The Blue Raven
by tigerlillygirl19
Summary: Meet Carter Callahan, Black Canary's protege. Orphaned and adopted by Dinah Lance and (sort of) Oliver Queen. She battles her own demons, insecurities, and knows how to hold her own against the villains of Star City as the Blue Raven. Read as she reveals more and more about her past and recalls her journey on becoming a part of the Team.
1. Chapter 1

Today is the day. It's invigorating to finally say that. After years of waking up at five in the morning for trainings, juggling school work and the sporadic work at Queen Industries, and the late night till early morning patrols, it's nice to be one step closer to something I have worked so hard for. We stood outside the Hall of Justice, the Justice League "Headquarters" waiting for the rest of the members and their protégés to arrive. I stood with my mentor and adoptive mother, Black Canary. She stood with a strong stature, a back straight, arms crossed over her chest, footing parallel with the shoulders for perfect balance. She was dressed in her costume a black corseted leotard and leather jacket with dark gray stockings all made of a bullet proof shock resistant fabrics paired with heavy duty light weight black combat boots. Her blonde hair cascading naturally on her shoulders in its usual dressed down casual do. She looked down at me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Patience, Carter, they will arrive shortly. They all just had business to attend to before getting here."

I nodded in understanding, "It is very strange that four villains with similar abilities attack four different locations at the same time."

She nodded, "Oliver and Roy said they had it and I am sure the others are finishing up. I'm sure once the League will discuss this suspicious occurrence, after your tour."

"Are you sure they aren't going to show us the tower?" I said with disappointment.

She nodded, "Unfortunately, not today, some of the members are still…apprehensive about minors being involved in this line of work. They are still keeping you in the safe zone, away for the press and keeping targets off your backs."

"Some of them don't trust us either I am assuming?" I asked, she gave me a sullen look and nodded. "Roy isn't going to like that, he's been raving about this for weeks."

She nodded, "Yeah, he's going to be pissed."

"Who is going to be angry?" a gruff male voice asked. I turned to see Aquaman standing on the stairs just a couple feet away along with his protégé Aqualad.

BC laughed, "You'll see," sharing a glance with me before facing him, "How long did it take to take him down?"

"Take _her_ down, and not long," he laughed, "Took longer for us to get here."

"Don't you find it strange, four villains, similar powers, attacking at the same time at different locations, today?" she asked.

He gave an answer but I didn't pay attention to it. I was too busy looking at the quiet boy, or I guess maybe teenager would be a better noun, standing at Aquaman's side. His skin was dark in color reminding me of chocolate, with tattoos wrapped around his arms. Blonde hair and what seemed to be silver colored eyes were to only contrasting features he had besides his suit. Red top and dark colored pants separated by a black belt with a golden Atlantian symbol belt buckle. A amused smirk appeared on my face when I realized the lack of shoes. After several seconds of observing he caught my gaze and began observing me as well. He saw me dressed in my suit similar to that of my mentor's. A black corseted top with tight fitted black pants paired with black combat boots and my own leather jacket, all with details of bright blue with a huge blue raven shaped logo on the back. The only difference was my red hair was pin straight and held out of my face by a head band and my face was partially covered by domino mask.

He meet my gaze once again and gave me a smile, "It's good to see you again, Blue Raven."

I nod, "It's good to see you too, Aqualad."

"Aqualad, you aren't hitting on my sister are you?" a voice called climbing up the stairs. I looked over Aqualad's shoulder as he turned to see how called him. Climbing up the stairs donned in an all red and yellow outfit and yellow hat was one of my favorite archers, Speedy, followed behind him was my other favorite archer, Green Arrow, his mentor. I rolled my eye and snorted.

"We were just saying hello, _Brother,_ you would have been here for them if you weren't so slow," I said with a smirk.

"We got detained, I'm here aren't I?" he said once he reached where I stood.

"Late, but here," I agreed with a smile.

"Blue Raven," I turned to see it was Green arrow addressing me, "missed you out there."

"Hey, if you needed help, all you had to do was ask, but no you said you had it," I said teasing.

He ruffled my hair, "Hey we did have it, just missed you making fun of Speedy."

"Who's making fun of Speedy?"

We turned to see Robin, the boy wonder in suit, shadowed by his mentor Batman.

"No one, Boy Wonder," Speedy deadpanned him and crossed his arms over his chest.

I let out a laugh, "Hello Robin."

He nodded in response, "Blue Raven, looking good." I rolled my eyes in response and went to stand by my mentor.

"What'd I say?" Robin "whispered" to Speedy.

He shook his head, "Stay in your league, Boy Blunder."

Before he could respond, Batman placed his hand on his protégé's shoulder. "Today's the day." He said with a barely visible smile.

Green Arrow grinned and looked at Speedy and I, "Welcome to the Hall of Justice."

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman added.

Black Canary placed both hands on my shoulders, "The product of your hard work," she murmured into my ear.

"Aww man!" the voice of yet another teenage boy appeared behind us. I turned to see Kid Flash with arms crossed over his chest. "I knew we'd be the last ones here."

He raced up to the four of us, gave Robin and Aqualad fist bumps. Speedy just glared at him, or maybe just looked at him the way he usually looked at everybody. I can never tell sometimes, Speedy is a very grumpy person. "Hello, Beautiful," Kid said to me as he gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I rolled my eyes, "You guys keep up with that and Speedy will skewer you with his arrows."

He laughed and shrugged, "He's got to catch me first."

Black Canary, thankfully, cut in before Speedy could say anything, "Come along, Blue Raven, boys, we are already late meeting Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter. They are patient but not _that _patient."

I nodded and began walking to the large double doors. They opened to reveal a very large room. Right in front of us was a door with all black letters "Authorized Justice League Personnel Only" it seemed out of place since it was directly beneath the tall golden statues of the founding members of the League. Out of the doors walked out the two aforementioned members.

"Robin, Speedy, Blue Raven, Aqualad, Kid Flash. Welcome." He turned around and began walking through the doors. We all eagerly followed like kids in a candy store. I turned to Speedy who had a very rare smile on his face.

"You now have unlimited access to our Gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library," he stated ending with the room we were in now. Lined with shelves of thousands of books with a computer nook on the other side and seating scattered throughout the room.

"Make yourselves at home," said Flash. Kid Flash and Robin took no time sitting down in the nearest chairs. With Aqualad following suite, Speedy stood in his place and I left his side to explore the nearest book shelf.

The members of the league gathers near another door, I'm assuming to a zeta tube. And discussed the strange attacks that happened earlier.

"That's it!" Speedy yelled from his spot startling me and making me drop the book I was admiring on the floor with a loud boom. I turned to glare at him as I picked up the book but he was too busy glaring at the members.

"You promised us a real look inside. Not a glorified backstage pass," he said with venom. I looked at my mentor as if to say _Here we go_.

"It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get," Aquaman said calmly but that just angered Speedy even more.

"Oh really?" he said sarcastically and gestured towards the glass windows high above us where tourist were taking photos. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on?"

Green Arrow stepped forward, "Roy, you just need to be patient."

"No, what I need is _respect._"

"Enough!" I snarled as I slammed the book down on the table next to me. Making a cup of pencils knock over. He looked at me with narrowed eyes. "You are talking about respect, yet you are acting like a child," I yelled as I pointed my finger at him. "You want to be respected? ACT LIKE YOU DESERVE IT!"

He looked at me and snorted "Are you serious?"

I stepped forward but was stopped by hand on my shoulder, my mentor's hand. Speedy continued, "You're kidding, right?" he asked me dumbfounded, " You're playing their game," he looked at the others, "Why? Because you think they play far? Today was supposed to be the day. Step one to becoming full fledged members of the League."

"No duh, Speedy! This is they just don't let anyone walk in here. It takes hard work and just because we defeat a couple of villains in our hometown means we are ready for the big leagues, the League. It takes building trust and showing the other members what we've got and not just our mentors," I said.

"Yeah, I mean isn't step one a tour of the HQ?" Kid Flash said from his spot.

"Except the hall isn't the Leagues real HQ!" Speedy exclaimed. I slapped my forehead with my hand.

I heard my mentor cuss under her breath, "Damn it, Oliver!"

I looked up from my hand to see the reactions of the other protégés, by their reactions this was not going to end well. The silence in the room gave Speedy clearance in his mind to continue. "Yeah, bet they never told you this is just a tourist false front and just a place to put the teleporter. The real headquarters is an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."

I turned to the group of mentors to see them all glaring at Green Arrow including my own. He looked sheepishly at Batman who had folded his arms. "I know, I know. I thought maybe we could make an exception?" he asked. Batman's eyes narrowed, "Or not…"

Black Canary stepped closer to Speedy, "Roy…"

He turned towards her and cut her off, "Save it for your partner."

Aquaman stepped forward, "You are not helping your cause here, Son. Stand down or—"

"Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his." He turned his glare to Green Arrow, "I thought I was his partner," he said somberly, "But not anymore." He grabbed the hat on his head and threw it to the ground.

"Roy!" I yelled from my spot, he paused for a second and looked back at the four of us proteges that gather together.

"Guess they were right about you, you're not ready!" he exclaimed angrily and then continued out of the room without looking back.

Kid Flash put one hand on my shoulder while Black Canary put her hand on the other. Before either had a chance to say any consoling words Superman's face appeared on the large computer screen behind us.

"Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus." Batman said as he and other League members walked towards the computer. "This will present the perfect opportunity to—"

"Zatara to Justice League, the sorcerer Wontan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. Requesting full league response."

"Superman?" Batman asked looking up at the Man of Steels image.

"It's a small fire, local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait. All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out," he said as he clicked off the screen. He turned to look at the four of us gather behind him in curiosity. "Stay put."

"What! Why?" Robin asked astonished.

"This is a League mission." Aquaman stated.

"You're not trained—" Flashed started to add but was cut off by his protégé

"Since when?"

"I meant you're not trained to work as a part of this team," Flash finished.

"There will be other missions," Aquaman stated.

"When you are ready," Black Canary finished.

"But for now, _stay put,_" Batman said sternly looking directly at his protégé.

They all left shortly after through the zeta tube. The other proteges began to bickered amongst themselves about their mentors while I stood quietly by the computer. Then a thought occurred to me just as it did Aqualad. "What is Project Cadmus?" we both asked simultaneously.

We both gave each other small smiles and I could feel a slight blush come to my face. I turned to Robin and Kid. They both shrugged.

"Dunno," Robin said and walked towards me near the computer.

I turned around and immediately began typing hacker codes. "Let's find out shall we boys."

Robin appeared at my side and began typing as well. "Didn't take you for a hacker."

"Eh, not really, Boy Wonder," I said, "Strictly Justice League systems."

"ACCESS DENIED."

I snorted, "Yeah, right," I said sarcastically.

"Wanna bet," Robin said at my side.

"Boy Wonder, do you have that code for, never mind," I said with a smile.

"Whoa," Kid said in shock as he saw all the data running on the screen. "How are you doing that?"

"Same system as the Batcave," Robin said.

"Might have hacked them once or twice," I said with a grin.

"ACCESS GRANTED."

Robin and I both shared a glance and fist bumped.

"Now let's see here, Project Cadmus is…"

"A genetics lab here in D.C.," Robin finished for me.

"That's it? Really Batman, what happened to the detailed reports you always do?"

Robin looked at me and crossed his arms over his chest, "How do you know about those?"

"Like I said ," I began searching for the coordinates, "I have hacked them a couple of times."

"Wait are you going?" Kid Flash asked as he saw a map appear on the screen. "Because if you're going, Gorgeous, I'm going."

"I'm going check it out, see what I can find. If Batman is suspicious then that is cause for investigation," I said as I loaded to coordinates to my wristlet.

"That would be poetic justice," Aqualad said nodding.

"They are all about justice," Robin said smiling.

"Put they said stay put."

"For the Sun Blotting mission," I said, "I didn't hear him say anything about staying put for this."

All three of us looked to Aqualad, "So just like that we are a team on a mission."

I smirked and placed a hand on his shoulders, "It'll be nice to see what you boys can do."

"Same to you," he said with a smirk.

"Good because I didn't come for a play date," Robin said.


	2. Chapter 2

**So my fellow Young Justice Leaguers, 24 reads in not even a 24 hours period!. YOU ARE THE BOMB! You are being rewarded now cause y'all are so great. And I also want to address something before I give it to you.**

**To my Anonymous Reviewer: I agree whole heartedly with your point about OCs and the reason why I made her a hacker connects to her story. Did you notice that she said she has hacked the JL's system once or twice? She is nowhere near Boy Wonder's awesome hacking abilities and that's why in this chapter she doesn't do any. She can hack the League's system and maybe a Facebook account or two. You will found out eventually why in a chapter or two.**

**PS not trying to bash you just informing you because I think this about all of the too and thank you so much your review it meant a lot!**

**Galaxy Mermaid: thanks so much hope you like this one too!**

**So without further ado CHAPTER 2 EVERYBODY!**

We took the Batmobile, or Robin took the Batmobile and told us to jump in. I figured we were already in deep trouble for our little "loophole", so we might as well add grand theft auto to our list. And let's just say I will not make that mistake again. Allowing an anxious adrenaline filled thirteen year old to drive a stylish tank with a super speed upgrade is not the safest ride. I got out of the back still slightly dizzy and looked at the Boy Wonder. Shaking my head at him I said, "Never again."

He laughed, "It wasn't that bad."

"Yes," Kid said as he got out on the other side of the car. "Yes, it was that bad. Next time I'll run."

We made the corner onto the block of Project Cadmus. It looked like the sight of any normal fire. Bystanders stood at the police tape a certain distance away, looking at the building before them that was still a blaze. Fire fighters were working on getting two scientists from the window on the second floor, and they weren't being that successful because I could hear them complaining that the ladder was stalling.

"Boy's the ladder isn't working they need help."

"On it," Kid said as he put his googles on and raced over. It was just in time to because just beyond the scientists an explosion caused them to fall out with Kid catching them just in time by running up the side of the building and pushing them onto the roof. He feel desperately and grabbed the ledge of an opened window.

"We still have to get them off the roof, what are you thinking Boy Wond—" I turn to look at him but notice he is gone and all I hear is that creepy laugh thing he does and I turn to see him using the ladder which had no made it to the destination and jumped onto the window ledge where Kid Flash was hanging and helped him into the window. "I hate when he does that."

"Agreed," Aqualad said at my side.

"I think I can get them down you cover for me just in case?"

"I have your back?" he said as a question.

"Yes, we are a team now. I have yours too," I said with a smile and starts running towards the building, "Let's go, Water Boy, they aren't going to get themselves down."

I heard him laughing as he began running behind me. I stopped about twenty feet away from the building, put my hands on in front of me palms down. Below my feet a disk formed the shade of blue, hence the name, hat formed a solid platform. I levitated myself off the ground and once I was stable went to the roof to get the two scared men in white coats. "Get on, you are safe," I said in a calm voice.

They hobbled onto the disc and grabbed onto my shoulders. I slowly levitated us to the ground were a crowd of firefighters and paramedics ushered them to a nearby ambulance. I looked to Aqualad, "Need a ride?"

He nodded his head with a smile and stepped on grabbing my shoulder. I levitated us up to the same window the two boys disappeared to. "You first."

He let go of my shoulder and swung into the window and I followed. Robin and Kid Flash were already investigating. Robin was busy typing on a computer and his wristlet and Kid was snooping through papers on the only desk in the room.

"Appreciate the help," Aqualad said sarcastically only causing Robin to grin. The irritated me.

"You guys handled it. Besides we're here to investigate, poetic justice remember?"

I rolled my eyes and began walking towards the open door, "I'll go try to find another office."

"I'll go with you," Aqualad said as he followed me into the hallway.

A couple steps out of the door I heard a ding noise and the opening of metal doors. I gave Aqualad a look before running down the hall and turning a corner to see a dead ended hallway with an elevator. They doors were open and with the dim lighting from the elevator you could see the silhouette of a humanoid shaped creature….with horns.

"Boys! I think we found something," I called, not taking my eyes off the elevator.

"There was something in the elevator," Aqualad said.

Kid was behind me in a second, "Elevators should be locked down."

"Something tells me the thing that we just saw walk in there doesn't really care," I said in disbelief.

Robin appeared at Kid's side and then ran towards the elevator and scanned it with his glove. "This is wrong," he muttered, "What do they need a high speed express elevator for?"

I looked at him, "Why do they need that for two stories?"

"This doesn't belong here," Kid said as he approached Robin.

"Neither does what we saw," Aqualad agreed as he walked over to the elevator. Grabbing the door on the seam he pulled them a part with ease revealing the elevator shaft.

I walked over to his side and looked down the shaft. It was at least a mile deep and pitch black to where she couldn't see the bottom or the elevator, "Batman was right to be suspicious."

"Guess that's why they need the elevator," Kid said as he looked over my shoulder.

Robin appeared next to Aqualad with a grappling gun that he aimed at the roof. He jumped right in and began making his way down. Kid followed right after him. Aqualad looked at me with curiosity.

I shook my head, "Can't do it for that long with all of us. It takes a lot of my energy which I want to save. That thing might have friends."

He nodded in agreement and gestured to the rope. I jumped and grabbed the rope with ease and began my descent with him following.

No more than a couple of minutes later, Robin's gun ran out of rope stopping us at sublevel 26. He jumped on the narrow landing and began bypassing security while we jumped on the ledge one by one. Robin nodded at Aqualad and he immediately opened the doors the same was allowing us to step through.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin said quietly.

"Something tells me this won't be a pleasant visit," I said looking around at my surroundings. A warehouse setting with dim red lighting.

A whoosh sound echoed from behind me along with a slight breeze that riffled my hair. I looked ahead to see a blur of red and yellow.

"Wait," Aqualad whisper yelled.

"Damn it, Wally," I cursed under my breath as I began to follow him as quietly and quickly as I could with the others following close behind. We passed several hallways and kept going straight until we saw the entrance to a bigger hallway. I could see Kid laying on the ground. Something told me this can't be good and I got mentally prepared for a fight. That got stalled when I caught sight of gigantic grey skinned mammoth like creatures walk on all fours passed Kid. I walked closer to see they had red eyes and large tusks growing upward out of their mouths. I also noticed they had smaller similar creatures with horns on their heads instead of tusks sitting on their backs. One of them caught my gaze and their horns began to glow read. _That can't be good. _Kid appeared at my side staring in amazement at the creatures who almost squashed him like a bug.

"No. Nothing odd going on here," I heard Aqualad mutter from behind me sarcastically.

Once they passed and vanished down the hallway. I grabbed Kid by the forearm and glared at him, "We stick together, got it?" I asked icily. He flinched at my tone and nodded his head. I released his arm and continued walking. As we walked down the hall I could hear a slight buzzing noise that got louder as we got closer. This hallway ended in a large room where the source of the noise was coming from. I made a 360 as I looked at the rows upon rows containing blue glowing creatures producing energy.

"Okay," Robin said with wide eyes, "officially whelmed."

I nodded in agreement, "They have their own power grid."

"This is how they must hide the real Project Cadmus underground, they are breeding their own power source," Kid said as he stepped closer to a tube.

"Of course," Aqualad agreed, "Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragon's teeth into the Earth."

"And this Cadmus creates new life too," Robin said as he knelt down as he plugged in his wristlet computer into another machine. "Let's find out why."

Moments later information popped up onto his holographic screen, "They are called Genomorphs. Whoa! Look at the stats of these things."

Kid and I raced towards him and read over his shoulder while he read aloud, "Super strength, telepathy, razor claws? These things are living weapons."

"Their making an army," Kid and I said together in shock. We looked at each other. "For who?" Kid asked gravely.

I looked back at the screen and something caught my, "Robin click on that," I said and pointed to a tab.

Aqualad appeared at my side curious as well, "What is project K R?" I asked.

Robin began typing and then cussed under is breath in anger, "Arghh! The file is triple encrypted," he said as he glared at the screen. He tapped at it again, "I- I can't—"

"Don't move!" ordered a male voice from behind us. I turned around and landed in a battle stance towards the voice.

A man in a black and blue uniform with a gold plated helmet entered the room with several genomorphs. He halted and looked disturbed when he saw who we were. "Wait. Robin, Blue Raven, Aqualad, Kid Flash?"

"At least he got your name right," Robin muttered to Kid Flash. I turned and glared at him wiping the smirk on his face. That gave me an ounce of satisfaction.

"I know you," Aqualad said calmly, "Guardian…a hero."

The "hero" shrugged, "I do my best," he said grimly.

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid asked astonished.

"I think that's my question kids. I'm chief of security and you're trespassing. But we can call the Justice League and figure this out."

I turned to look at Robin again this time it was to give a message, a simply shake of my head. He turned and got back to typing. I turned back just in time to see the little genomorph on his shoulder similar to the ones we saw earlier horns glow red. Guardian's facial expression change to anger. He pointed towards us, "Take them down hard! No mercy!" he yelled and the genomorphs lunged towards us.

Robin flipped and appeared in fornt of me. As he landed he threw smoke pellets on the ground realsing a blinding fog. I could see him take out another grappling gun and swing out of their over the oncoming attack. "Really?" I yealled at him but got no response.

I had no time to yell anything else at him. A genomorph appeared out of the smoky cloud with its jaw open teeth barred. I kicked upward closing it shut with a loud noise and round house kicked it knocking it into a wall making it disappear.

"KID! AQUALAD! HEAD FOR THE EXIT!" I yelled as I side kicked and upper cutted another two genomorphs.

Kid appeared by my side and picked me up bridal style and flew us out of the fog. He put me back down on the ground just as Aqualad ran out and met us at the door way. We began running to where I could hear Wonder Boy typing. We meet him at another elevator that he was hacking. Kid ran ahead and stood in front of him, "Way to be a team player, Rob."

"Weren't you right behind me?" he asked as he continued hacking.

"Robin hack faster incoming!" I yelled as I looked behind me to see more genomorphs turn the corner.

Just as Aqualad and I reached the other two the light above the elevator dinged with green light and the doors opened. We rushed in and closed the doors just in time. I shoved Robin against the wall with a loud bang, "You do that again Robin and I swear to God I will make Batman look as threatening as a puppy!"

"What? What did I do?" he asked trying realease my hold. I banged him against the wall again.

"Rule #23 when apart of team NEVER LEAVE THEM BEHIND! We stick together unless instructed otherwise. Is that understood?" I said icily.

He looked at me astonished and nodded. I released my hold on him and turned to Kid, "Same goes for you Flash Junior, got it?" I asked pointing at him. He raised his hands in surrender and nodded.

"We're going down?" Aqualad asked as he narrowed his eyes at Robin behind me.

I turned around to look at him again furiously.

"Dude out is up!" Kid said glaring at Robin.

"Excuse me Project K.R. is down on sub level 52."

"Seriously, Robin, no hack with you wrist computer and reverse this. This is out of control," I said.

Aqualad spoke from behind me, "Perhaps…Perhaps we should contact the League."

Before Robin could say anything the doors opened to sub level 52. I smacked myself on the forehead and cursed under my breath.

Robin walked out of the elevator and Kid followed shrugging his shoulders, "Well we are already here," he said.

Aqualad looked at me apprehensively. I growled in frustration and stomped off the elevator. I took in the sight of sub level 52 and by how disgusting and creepy it looked, I wanted to stomp right back on the elevator and get the heck out of here. The walls resembled a cave the only difference was red slimy capsules grew out of the walls. I met th boys at the crossroad two paths both similar in creepiness.

"Which way, Boy Blunder?" I snarled.

He didn't react to my tone or at least he didn't show it, "We have Bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two," Robin gestured.

"HOLD!" a voice commanded I turned to see the genomorph from the elevator or one similar to it walk into view wearing a white uniform. He levitated canisters in front of him and began hurling them towards us. i pushed the boys towards the other hallway.

"RUN!" I yelled as we began running down the left hallway and ran towards a closing door. Kid ran ahead and shoved one of the canisters into the door wedging it to stay open.

"Hurry!" He said as he went through the opening. I wedged myself through the opening, followed by Robin, and then Aqualad who kicked the canister away closing the door. I leaned against the closed door trying to catch my breath. I notice Robin working on another computer. He announced the he had disabled the door.

"We're trapped," Aqualad deadpanned.

I glared at Robin and was about to scream at him but was stopped.

"Ugh…Guys!" Kid said from another computer, "You'll want to see this."

Robin walked towards him, Aqualad held out a hand helping me up and we made our way over towards the two boys.

Just as we got there something beyond the computer lit up. A glass tube with the symbol Kr written across the middle in dark grey. Inside it was a sleeping teenage boy with jet black hair dressed in a white suit with the Superman's "S" in red.

"Oh my god!" I gasped in shock. Kid walked around and stood in front of the tube.

"Big K little r the atomic symbol for Krypton," he said in understanding.

"Robin hack," Aqualad ordered knocking Robin out of his shock.

"Oh! Uh…Right…right," he said as he shock his head and began hacking.

"Weapon designation Superboy,"Robin read aloud, "a clone force grown in sixteen weeks."

I looked over his shoulder and continued, "From DNA acquired," I snorted, "from Superman."

"_Stolen_ from Superman," Aqualad said angrily as he stared at the data.

"No way the big guy knows about this," Kid said from his place.

I shook my head, "There is no way he would keep this from the League."

"The Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty four seven," Robin said reading off from the computer.

I looked at the tube again and noticed three little genomorphs perched onto of it. I narrowed my eyes, "Telepathic genomorphs, they must educate him," I said making my distaste for the little creatures well known.

"They're making a slave out of…." Kid pondered for a moment, "Superman's son?"

"Now we contact the League," Aqualad stated. We all nodded and tried. I pressed on my watches screen and signaled. It responded seconds later with a red screen with NO SIGNAL in bold white letters. "I have no signal."

"Same," Robin said.

"No response," Aqualad stated.

"We are in to deep," Kid said.

I let out a muted scream and began muttering to myself, "Just had to be curious. Couldn't have come back later. Canary's going to kill me."

Kid turned towards us, "This is wrong."

Robin nodded his head in agreement, "We can't leave him like this."

"Set him free," Aqualad ordered, "Do it!"

I looked up and watched as the tube began to open. "SHIT!" I exclaimed as I noticed the three genomorphs horns glowing red just as Superboy began to wake up.

Superboy immediately rushed towards us pinning Aqualad to the ground. The white suited clone began to punch Aqualad and the boys rushed and grabbed his arms.

"Hang on Supey," Kid said.

"We are on your side," Robin forced out just before Kid was thrown into the now empty tube breaking the glass.

"Kid are you okay?" I yelled in concern. I heard nothing and that worried me. I turned to see Robin on Superboy's back and releasing a smoke bomb in his face. It stunned him momentarily allowing Aqualad to kick him in the face and towards me. He noticed me and began stalking towards me.

"Superboy listen to me," I said in what I hoped was comforting tone, "You don't have to be what they created you to be. You can make your own choices."

He continued coming towards me clearly not phased and I jumped of the platform onto solid ground and took a fighting stance. Before he could react Robin shot him in the side with his Taser gun. Superboy focused on him, grabbing the lines and yanking Robin forward. The clone caught him easily by the collar and threw him to the ground. Then held the unconscious Boy Wonder on the floor with his foot. I looked over to see Kid was still unconscious and Aqualad was still partially out of it. I ran and jumped on Superboy's back wrapping my arms around his neck with a force that would strangle a normal adult male. He began gripping at my arms trying to get me off.

"You don't have to do this, Superboy," I pleaded, "We can help you, we are here to get you out of here. Please, don't fight us."

He still didn't listen and finally got grip on my arms and flung me into the wall. I groaned as I landed, "That hurt," I muttered.

I looked up to see Aqualad charge at him with a large hammer made out of glowing water, "ENOUGH!" he yelled as he hit Superboy knocking him into the metal leftovers of the clone's old prison. Superboy didn't even look phased as he stalked towards the Atlantian.

Aqualad put his hand up, halting Superboy, "Stop we are trying to help you!"

Superboy ignored him and charged him. I closed my eyes and began to slowly get up leaning on the wall for support. I watched as they went at each other. Aqualad had the upper hand but was then taken down when Superboy jumped and slammed him a couple of times into the ceiling knocking him out. He turned towards me and before my mind could register it he had me up in the air by my throat with my back firmly against the wall. I gasped for breath and gripped his hand with both of mine. After a couple of seconds I reached out with my hand my finger tips grazing his face with was just enough for me to send my message.

I sent him pictures of me, the younger me. An eight year old little girl strapped to a cold steel table in only a training bra and underwear, with IV's and tubes coming out of both my arms and my head. Surrounded by scientists in their white coats observing as they pumped their latest genetic enhancing cocktail into my frail little body. I sent him the pain I felt as the serum made its way through my blood stream to my brain that felt like it was on fire.

"It's working," one of them said, "She'll be our best weapon against the Justice League before you know it."

I let him see my face, "_You don't have to be who they want you too_," I told him telepathically, then my mind went black.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up in a glass tube with pain radiating from torso and wrists which were bound tightly above my head. I turned to my side and saw the three boys tied up in a similar situation to my own, Kid being the only one awake. I looked in front of us to see Superboy staring at me with an expressionless face. Kid was awake and angry.

"WHAT! What do you want?" he yelled waking up the other two. "Quit staring you're creeping me out!"

"Uh….KF…how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?" Robin asked sarcastically.

Superboy didn't respond and just stared blankly. I turned to Aqualad who was looking at me with concern. "Are you alright, Raven?" he asked concerned.

I realized my breathing was lightly labored and I slightly shook my head, "I think I may have a cracked or bruised rib or two. It's hard to breath with that and my swollen throat."

That made all three of the boys worried. Aqualad turned towards Superboy, "We only sought to help you!" he yelled at him angrily.

"Yeah," Kid cut in, "We free you and you turn on us. How's that for gratitu—"

"ENOUGH!" I yelled angrily, "Kid, just stop," I finished quietly, "He is just as much a victim as we are."

"What? You're taking his side?" he asked angrily with a glare directed towards me, "He just kicked our butts and almost killed you, are you crazy?"

"Kid, you have no idea what it's like alright? You have no idea how it feels to not be in control of yourself! To be created as a pawn for someone else's game! To be created as a weapon to hurt….people," I said ending in a whisper I could feel a tear stream down my face and I quickly wiped it away on my sleeve.

"I agree with Blue Raven, I too believe that our new friend was not in full control of his actions."

"What if…what if I wasn't," said a quiet voice. I looked up to the source, Superboy.

"He can talk!" Kid exclaimed, causing my eyes to roll.

"Yes…he can!" Superboy said angrily as he clenched his fists.

"Hey it's not like I said it," Kid said sheepishly.

"Kid, shut up," I said shaking my head.

"The genomorphs taught you, telepathically?" Aqualad questioned.

"They taught me much," he said, "I can read…write…I know the names of some things."

"But have you seen them?" Robin asked, "Have they ever let you see the sky? Or the sun?"

I already knew the answer before he said it, "Images are implanted in my mind but no I have not seen them," he said longing. I knew exactly how he felt and I was sympathetic.

"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Aqualad asked.

"I am Superboy. A genomorph. A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him should he ever turn from the light," he said robotically.

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration," Aqualad said carefully, "But like Superman you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."

"I live because of Cadmus!" Superboy replied angrily, "It is my home!"

"No, Superboy, it's not," I said quietly causing him and the others to look at me, "It is your prison. They may have created you but this place is not your home. A home is place where people care about you, your well being, where they except you including your faults, your past, where people don't judge you, don't _use_ you. This is not your home Superboy, they will use you. They created you to weaponize you. They do not care for you, they contain you. We care for you, Superboy, you are our friend. You are my friend and I care about you," I said looking directly at him. "We can give you the things they can't, show you the things they restrict you from. We can show you the sun, the moon, the stars."

"We can show you….introduce you to Superman," Aqualad finished. Superboy looked at him with widened eyes.

"No they can't!" a scientist said loudly as he walked in. He was a middle aged man with brown and gray haired tied back into a pony tail. His face was dark and partially covered by black rimmed glasses. The white lab coat he wore rustled against his clothing as he walked. He was backed up by Guardian and another scientist, female, and all of them had genomorphs perched on their shoulders. "They'll be otherwise occupied," he said snidely as he looked at us, "Activate the cloning device."

"Pass," Robin said, "Batcave's crowded enough."

The scientist ignored him, "And get the weapon back in its pod!" he yelled at Guardian who acted with no objection.

Kid said something in protest, something about calling Superboy an "it". I looked at Superboy pleading, "Please, Superboy, help us, help your friends," I said softly.

He hesitated and became confused for a moment, but that vanished as he shrugged Guardian's hand off his shoulder.

"Don't start thinking now!" the scientist yelled as the genome on his shoulder jumped and landed on Superboy's, red horns glowing. Superboy immediately became void of any emotion and began walking quietly out of the room.

"See you're not a real boy, you're a weapon. And you belong to me!" the scientist yelled, "Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod!"

The scientist turned to us, "So you are the famous sidekicks? Black Raven, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Boy Wonder," he smirked keeping his gaze on Robin, "Now, Robin, tell me, which one of your friends would you like me to make a demonstration of first?"

Robin's eyes narrowed and glared at the scientist. He shrugged and began walking down the line and stopped in front of me. He pointed to Kid, "No? Well then how about him?" he asked methodically causing Robins eyes to narrow more. He turned and stared at me for a moment. Now that he was closer I saw more details including a red tag with his name on it. Dr. Mark Desmond. Desmond pointed at me and then looked to the Boy Wonder. Robin reacted clenching his fists and clenching his jaw. "Ladies first then."

"You think you are so superior, I can't wait to get out of here and kick the smirk right of your face!" I yelled at him.

He looked at me amused and then looked towards the other scientist and nodded. She began typing on the keyboard causing two robotic arms shoot out in front of me. The need-like appendages pierced my skin and began shocking me with electricity. I screamed in pain as the machine began pumping blood out of my body.

I could hear the boys protesting. Aqualad was even kicking his tube in an attempt to escape but those were stopped short when they were hit with the same torture I was enduring ending their protests and replacing them with their own screams of pain.

As I struggled in vain I could just barely hear Desmond say, "Delete the source material."

In one last attempt I reached out telepathically to Superboy, "Superboy, you are living creature, person. Choose your own destiny, not the one they have planned for you. Choose for yourself."

I was slowly losing consciousness when I heard a commotion that caused the machines to stop.

Desmond began yelling, "I told you to get back to your—"

Rustling of clothing and bodies hitting the floor caused me to weakly look up. Superboy glared at the Desmond and Guardian who were on the ground unconscious.

"Don't give me orders," he growled and he turned and began walking towards us.

"Are you here to help us? Or fry us?" kid said nervously.

Superboy narrowed his eyes at him for several seconds. He shrugged, "I don't seem to have heat vision so I guess helping is my only option," he said with a very small smile.

Robin jumped out of his tube rubbing his wrists, "Finally! Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long."

That cause Kid to crack, "Seriously! That's what you're worried about. The whole league will have our heads after tonight! We got beat up by a Kryptonian! That crazy scientist would've killed us after he cloned us! He almost killed Blue Raven just now!"

Robin looked towards me and saw how I was barely holding up my head and how heavily I has breathing. "You think I don't know that!" he shot back icily.

"Robin!" I snapped. "Keyboard!"

He walked over to the computer and typed in something causing the needles to retract back into the metal cables. "Free Aqualad!" he snapped, "I'll get Blue Raven and Kid Mouth!"

"Don't you give me any orders either!" Superboy growled.

Robin undid Kid's shackles and they quickly raced over to me.

"Sorry about y'know," Kid said quietly.

"Save it for later, when we finally get out of here," Robin said as I toppled onto them. "Think you can carry her?"

Kid nodded and put me in a piggyback position. "Hey, Gorgeous, think you can hold on?"

I wrapped my arms as tightly as I could around his shoulders, "I'll try," I whispered weakly. He nodded and gripped my legs from behind my knees and we began to move out.

"You'll- You'll never get out of here!" Desmond said behind us from the floor, "I'll have you in your pods by morning!"

I snorted quietly in response. Robin sighed and threw birdarangs at the pods filled with our blood, "That guy is not whelmed. Not whelmed at all."

"What is with you and this whelmed thing?" Kid asked.

Robin answered with a shrug and we began running the hallways. I turned my head to the side and noticed the large red capsules growing on the walls glow red, "That can't be good, boys."

Kid nodded. Aqualad saw them as well, "Agreed. We're still forty two levels below ground but if we can make it to the elevator—" he stopped short I looked up to see a group of gigantic mammoth genomorphs blocking our path. Once we got closer one of them got on its hind legs, fists in the air, and came back down. We dodged the hit and went into action. Superboy jumped up and punched out the genomorph in retaliantion knocking him out clean. Only to be punched to the ground and held down by another. The boys jumped over it while Kid with me still on his back ran through them and stopped with the boys to look at Superboy fighting the genomorphs.

"Superboy, the goal is escape! Not bury ourselves here!" Aqualad said.

Superboy turned around, "YOU WANT ESCAPE!" He yelled. He turned to an unconscious genomorph and threw it at two standing ones knocking them out and clearing the way to the elevator shaft.

Aqualad opened the door and robin shot his grappling gun upwards. Kid jumped onto the other side of the shaft and began speeding up the side of the wall. Superboy grabbed Aqualad and leapt into the air. I looked up to see they were already several stories high and they began falling.

"I'm..I'm falling," Superboy said shocked.

"Kid, Stop!" He stood on a landing and turned to look at me I let one of my arms go holding only him with the other. I made a disc in the air catching them and allowing them to step onto a landing. I wrapped my arm back around his neck and he continued up the wall until we were on the same level as the other three boys.

Superboy looked at us and mumbled, "Superman can fly," he said with disappointment. "Why can't I fly?"

"Dunno," Kid said, "But it looks like you can leapt tall buildings in a single bound, still cool though."

I smiled and gave my hold on his neck a squeeze. Superboy mumbled a small "Thank you." still disappointed.

"Guys! This will have to be our exit!" Robin said, I looked up to see the elevator coming down. Superboy threw the doors open and we jumped in just in time. Just when I thought there was an escape route before us, a huge group of genomorphs rounded the corner. We turned the corner and began running. I could feel myself getting better my brain working over time to heal my body. My throat had already stopped aching and my ribs hurt a lot less now. The sites of the needled arms had even gone away.

"Go left! Left!" Superboy celled loudly, knocking me out of my self-assessment. He began giving directions and it looked promising, until we met a dead end.

"Great directions Supey! Your trying to get us re-podded!" he said rounding on Superboy. I got down off his back and slapped him in the head.

"No..I..I don't understand," Superboy said looking disappointed again.

"Don't apologize either. This is perfect!" Robin said with a huge smile as he pointed to the air vent.

Robin threw a birdarang and hoisted himself into the vent as the cover fell to the floor. I made a run for it kicking myself of the walls once, twice, and caught the vent my hands and swung myself in with my feet pushing myself off the wall. The boys quickly followed.

"I see you're feeling better," Robin said a head of me without looking away from his hologram.

I nodded, "My ribs are still healing, the rest of my body has healed and recovered."

"Y'know," kid said from behind me, "After we get out of here, I need to get a list of what you can do."

I laughed, "A girl can't reveal all her secrets, Kid."

He grumbled behind me but said nothing else. We continued to crawl through the vent for several minutes. "Argh! At this rate we'll never get out."

"Hush, Kid Impatient," I said.

"Shh," Superboy said cutting Kid off from what he was about to say, "Listen."

I listened and for a moment I couldn't hear anything, then suddenly I could hear claw marks scraping on metal and it was getting louder. Robin looked at his hologram. He crawled ahead and kicked a vent out, "Here!" he said as he jumped out vanishing from sight. We all followed and once we were all out, Boy Wonder threw a pellet causing cement to form closing off the vent.

He knelt down and plugged in his computer and began typing. After a couple of second he looked up with a smirk, "Hacked the motion sensors."

"Sweet!" Kid said grinning.

I looked around, "Don't get to happy, Kid, there's still plenty of them between us and out."

He smirked knowingly, "But I've got room to move," he said putting his goggles over his eyes and sped through the door near us that lead to the stairs. I began running up the stairs after him with the boys following behind. We were up several flights of stairs when I heard snarls and claws scratching against the metal stairs.

"Superboy you got them?" I called as I continued running. He gave no answer, however I head a defining bang and looked over the edge to see the flight of stairs crumble under his foot. "Nice one!"

We went up several more flights before I finally saw the speedster vanish through a door. I gave a sigh of relief only to groan when I saw that what was labelled sub level one was a hallway dimmed with red lights closed off by metal doors. Kid was on the ground rubbing his head.

"We're cut off from the street," Aqualad said angrily.

"Thanks, my head hadn't noticed," Kid mumbled sarcastically as he got up from the ground. Robin was attempting to hack but he wasn't fast enough. Superboy began hitting the door when it wouldn't give he and Aqualad tried to get it open.

"Move behind me," I ordered, they gave a look and moved behind me with no debate. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I opened my eyes to see my hands holding balls of blue energy. I flung them one by one at the door. They reverberated back and I reacted just in time to form a shield which easily absorbed them. With a muted scream of frustration, I threw the shield on the ground and it faded away, "I am really getting tired of this damn place."

I turned around to see the boys shocked faces, "What?" I yelled.

"Nothing!" they all said hands up in surrender.

"Good now let's get the hell out of here," I said as I walked up to the door closest to us and kicked it in as I saw more genomorph mammoths round the corner at the other end of the hall only to be faced with a whole room full of genomorphs all shapes and sizes. I put my body in a fighting stance. "Really missing the outside of this building right now," I said just as I formed energy balls in my hand.

Before any of them could reply the small telepathic genomorphs scattered around the room silently made their horns glow red effectively knocking us out. I woke up a little while later to Superboy being the only one of us standing.

"Guardian?" Aqualad asked confused looking at the older hero who nodded towards us.

"Go," he said, "I'll deal with Desmond."

And like the devil he was the genomorphs parted and he appeared more furious then he was when Superboy had tossed him to the floor earlier holding glowing blue test tube in his hand. I noticed it was open and immediately began looking for an exit.

"I think not," Desmond said, "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." He then tossed back the contents of the test tube. Guardian moved to stand in front of us in a defensive stance. Desmond grew shedding both his clothes and his skin revealing a gigantic humanoid genomorph with razor sharp tooth and bright red eyes.

"Everyone get back!" Guardian yelled and then rushed towards Desmond only to be slapped away like a bug and hit the wall landing on the ground unconscious. Superboy attacked then and though he had a better chance than Guardian and was hit away too. He bounced back quickly and attempted an aerial attack. Desmond saw and jumped to meet him crashing them booth through the ceiling.

Robin grinned and pulled out a grappling gun, "Okay that's one way to bust through the ceiling," he said as he grabbed a hold of Kid and pulled him up through the hole. I looked to Aqualad he smirked at me, "Need a ride?"

I smirked at him and shrugged, "Returning the favor?"

"No, having your back," he said as he grabbed me around my waist and jumped through the hole landing effortlessly. And just in time to have Superboy flung at us. We slid several feet before halting to a stop. Robin and Kid ran over and helped us all up. I looked from where I stood to see Desmond staring at us. He grinned and began charging at us. we charged towards him. Kid reached him first but slid underneath him between his legs. Aqualad and Superboy reached him next both punching him in the face causing him to fall back and trip over Kid who was on all fours. He got up in a second and looked at us smugly, "Learned that one in kindergarten."

Robin lunched himself over Kid and threw a couple of his birdarangs at Desmond, which he rolled over and dodged. Superboy approached him ready to attack only to be grabbed and slammed into a cement pillar.

I looked around at my surroundings, "Think, Carter, think." Then I spotted it. I ran towards it and grabbed it off the wall. I turned around Desmond throw Aqualad to the ground. I ran towards them while forming an energy disc under my feet.

"HEY UGLY!" I yelled at Desmond as he tossed Superboy into pillar causing it to crumble and wedging the Kryptonian under a slab of cement. He turned and looked at me. I squeezed the trigger and foam shoot out right in his face. Once he was thoroughly covered in foam I grabbed the nozzle with both hands and swung it with as much force as I could. The end of the fire extinguisher hit him square in the forehead with a loud bang. I swung back around in a 360 rotation and hit him again in the side of his head. "DON'T MESS WITH MY BOYS!"

I dispersed my energy disc and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Swinging and hitting him once more in the knee before spraying the ground. Kid ran up from behind me and jumped to attack only to be grabbed by his arm. Desmond wiped his face and glared at the speedster before tossing him at me and caused us to almost collide with Aqualad. He jumped over us easily to attack Desmond only to be grabbed midair and slammed into another cement pillar.

Kid got up and helped me up, "Your boys, huh?" he asked smirking.

"Save it," I said as I thought about my next attack.

"KF! RAVEN! Get over here!" robin said from the other side of the room. Kid picked me up and raced over to him. We looked up from his hologram and at us. "We are bringing the room down on this guy. Got it?"

"Got it!" We both said and we ran to put the plan into action. Kid ran towards Desmond and punched him in the face. He ran over towards his appointed pillar and began teasing Desmond enticing him into a chase where it ended with him punching the pillar just like we wanted him to. I turned to my pillar and began throwing energy discs at it after three or four it had a cut through at a slant. I turned to see Robin drawing a big x that Aqualad and Kid covered with a huge puddle of water. Superboy jumped and punched him from the side and punched Desmond knocking him onto the wet floor. Aqualad took out two handles from the pack on his back and caused an electrical current along his now glowing tattoos to his hands. He touched the metal to the water electrocuting Desmond. I threw two energy discs at him knocking him back to the floor.

"Move!" Robin said as we moved away and gathered together as the Boy Wonder's birdarangs went off bringing down the entire second floor. When the dust cleared we were surrounded by rubble but we were protected by and energy force field that bubble around us.

I released a huge sigh of relief, "You alright boys?" all of them responded. "Superboy, can you catch the big slab on top of us." He nodded, "Ready? Catch!" I dispersed the energy and he caught it and tossed it off us effortlessly.

I looked around at the rubble around us and let out a laugh and leaned against the pile of cement in front of me.

"We…did it," Aqualad huffed, I turned to see him grinning.

"We did it," I said smiling back.

"Was there… ever any doubt," Robin huffed and gave Kid a high five, both winced at the contact.

I walked toward Superboy and place a hand on his shoulder, "We did it," I said smiling and he gave me nod, "Look up."

He looked up and his face became one of wonder, "It's…beautiful."

All the rest of the boys looked up, "It truly is," Aqualad said in agreement.

It was nice while the moment lasted. Then something appeared, s speck at first that grew into a silhouette with a red cape.

"Oh and Superman?" Kid asked sounding excited, "Do we keep out promises or what?"

"We are so royally screwed," I said as I saw other League members appear and they did not look happy.


	4. Chapter 4

_**So you guys are so awesome 200 views! IN FIVE DAYS with only three chapters! so here's your reward chapter four ENJOY!**_

As Superman descended so did the other League members and they were not happy. We all began to jump out of the hole and stand on solid ground.

They all took notice of Superboy who flashed the red "S" symbol on his torn solar suit. "It that what I think it is?" Batman growled.

"He IS Not an IT!" I growled back causing his eyes to narrow.

"He doesn't like being called an _it_," Kid said through his teeth as he stepped to my side.

"I'm Superman's clone," Superman announced causing a disturbance and chatter among the members.

"Start talking," Batman snapped.

Aqualad began to explain with Kid assisting with sound effects from time to time. They all listened intently and once we were done they conferenced amongst themselves.

"Oh come on," Kid complained, "we told them everything, what does he want to discuss now?"

"Our punishments for misbehaving and going against orders," I said glaring at the group and ignoring the stares of my mentor.

"And hijacking the batmobile," Robin added.

Several minutes later, Superman approached Superboy who folded his arms in slightly defensive manner. "We'll uh…We'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean. For now… I'd better make sure they…get that Blockbuster creature squared away." And he just flew off.

After a few second after is saw that pitiful excuse of an interaction I turned to Kid, "Did that really just happen? Is he serious?" I asked I looked at the now disappeared super hero. "He is so lucky is gone."

"Um… Raven, we have gotten into enough trouble tonight. Save it for another day," Robin said grabbing my shoulder.

"Oh trust me, I plan on it," I snapped.

Before Robin could respond, our mentors all stepped forward.

"Cadmus will be investigated," Batman stated sternly, "All fifty two levels." He narrowed his at us slightly, "But let's make one thing clear."

"You should've called," Flash said.

"End results aside we're not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, hijacked the batmobile, and endangered lives," he stared directly at Robin. "You will not be doing this again."

"I'm sorry, but we will," Aqualad said stepping forward.

"Aqualad stand down," Aquaman commended sternly.

Aqualad responded with a gesture, "Apologies my king, but no. we did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together on our own we forged something powerful important."

Flash spoke again, "If this about your treatment at the hall, the four of you—"

"The Five of us," I said correcting him. "And no it's not. You said it yourself, Flash, we haven't trained with _your_ team. We haven't trained together either but neither did the six of you when you first banned together against the invasion. You forged this incredible band of powerful and skilled heroes to help in your cause for continuing to provide Justice for those who can't do it themselves. Yesterday was _the day_, the day of a new beginning for us, the beginning of a team, the beginning of allowing us to use our knowledge and abilities you taught us for the same cause. Sure did we destroy a building, yeah and I'm not going to lie it was kind of invigorating because we did it as unified team to bring down a mutated genomorph and rescue our now friend and you better be damn proud of us because that could have ended a hell of a lot worse." I ended quietly.

"Batman, we're ready to use what you've taught us or why teach us at all?" Robin said glaring at his mentor with fierce determination.

"Why let them tell us what to do," Superman said stepping forward, "It's simple. Get on board or get out of our way!"

"Yeah because rather you like or not," I said fiercely, "My boys are not going anywhere."

Batman looked down at all of us and I gave a look daring him to say no. "Give me three days," he growled.

We nodded, it wasn't a no. "What about Superboy?" I asked, "Where will he stay until then?"

Kid spoke, "Hey Supey, how about you come stay with me?" He nodded in agreement.

Batman nodded in approval, he turned to the other mentors, "Take your protégés home." And turned with a flick of his cape. Robin looked at us and gave us a glum smile before following his mentor.

Kid kissed me on the cheek and raced away to his mentor's side before I could react I found him and glared playfully at him. Superboy began walking but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Superboy," I said and he turned to look at me, "if he gets to aggravating and you feel the need to punch him, don't hit him too hard."

He gave me a small smile and a nod and walked towards the two speedsters. I turned to see Aqualad talking with his mentor he saw me staring and smiled. I waved at him and he nodded before walking away with Aquaman.

A throat cleared from behind me and I turned to see Black Canary. She stepped forward and place a hand on my shoulder, I finally meet her gaze and I saw a string of emotions going through her eyes. Relief, anger, but one rang out pride. "Blue Raven, I am so proud of you. You did great tonight and I am happy that you have finally embraced your powers."

"But I'm still getting grounded," I stated with a smile.

"So grounded," she said with a smile on her face and a squeeze on my shoulder. Another throat cleared we both looked to see Green Arrow standing there smiling.

"You did great, Carter, wish Roy could've seen you," he said with a sad smile.

I approached him and gave him a hug which he took as always, "I'll find him and talk to him, maybe he'll listen to me."

Black Canary stepped forward, "Let's go home." We both nodded and all three of us began the trek for the nearest zeta tube that would be the quickest way to take us back to Star City.

Those two days in between were very brutal. You see when Black Canary says your grounded you do get grounded. By landing on the ground as she kicks your butt when you're blindfolded for sensory deprivation as an exercise. Even though my body can heal at rapid rates I am still feeling sore. On the third day I jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen where Black Canary now dressed in simple sweats as my adoptive mother Dinah Lance was making breakfast. "Did you hear anything?" I asked anxiously.

She laughed, "Good morning to you too, Carter."

I huffed, "Good morning, Mom, have you heard anything?"

"It's only the third day," she said putting a plate in front of me. The usual breakfast egg whites with steam fried vegetables and whole grain toast.

"Yeah, exactly, we both know that he always delivers early," I said taking a bite of eggs.

She placed a glass of milk and gave me a smile, "We leave at 7:30."

I gasped and looked at her, "Really?"

She nodded in agreement rolling her eyes, "Yes, really."

I hurried up and ate my food, with several remarks from her saying I remind her of the Flashes. I ignored her and as soon as I was done I washed the dishes and ran upstairs to get ready.

I put on civilian clothing or normal clothes. A simple blue t-shirt covered by my leather jacket with a pair of dark washed jeans paired with my combat boats. I stood in front of my on suite bathroom and began brushing my hair noticing how bright my eyes were today and I frowned. You see when I was kidnapped and tested on when I was younger their tests caused a lot of genetic mutations before they finally got the right product. My hair which now is a light red was a dark brown when I was born and began to grow out that color. My eyes which were a nice chocolate brown were now the products of a genetic mutation complete heterochromia. My right eye was a bright blue similar to the color of the serum that resulted with my abilities, my left eye was now a bright green both stood out and both made me really uncomfortable. I looked to my contact case that sitting on the counter, and huffed. I didn't like wearing them they were uncomfortable and today of all days I did not want to be miserable because of plastic disc in my eye annoying me so I put on a pair of dark-lensed sun glasses and walked down stairs. The last thing I did was grab my bag containing my Blue Raven clothes, keys, and my cell phone before closing the door and making my way towards the stairs.

When I got downstairs Dinah and Oliver were waiting for me at the door in their normal clothing as well. I smiled, "Are we ready?"

Oliver smiled, "What no good morning?"

I rolled my eyes, "Good morning, now can we go!"

They both laughed and we began making our way to the nearest zeta tube. And within seconds we were transported to the old headquarters for the Justice League Mount Justice.

We all stood in a line in front of the members of the League that were there waiting to see why exactly we were all here. "This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League's operations. We are calling it into service again," he said looked at us directly, "Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you will do it on League terms." He looked to his left, "Red Tornado has volunteered to stay here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training." I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, she paid me no mind. "I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked suspicious.

"Yes, real missions. But covert," Batman replied to his protégé.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," Flash said from his spot next to his protégé. "There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves that the enemies are getting smarter," Aquaman said.

"Which means Batman needs a team that can operate under the radar," Black Canary said from her spot.

Batman nodded, "The six of you will be that team," he said.

"Cool," the Boy Wonder said with a smirk that vanished, "Wait six?"

Batman looked over us towards the entrance. We all turned to see Martian Manhunter and a teenage Martian girl beside him. She had red hair and freckles and was gripping her arm nervously. The boys sure appreciated her. Robin and Kid shared a look, "Liking this gig more ever minute." I rolled my eyes and slapped him upside the head. He turned around and rubbed his head, "What was that for?"

"You know why and don't be creepy, we want her to join the team not run away screaming," I said matter of fact. Robin snorted by his side causing Kid to give him a look.

Batman ignored us and continued, "This is Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian."

"Hi," she said warily and waved at us.

Kid stepped up, "Hi, I'm Kid Flash, this is Robin, Blue Raven, Aqualad, it's cool if you forget their names." I rolled my eyes and slapped him upside the head again.

"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian said softly. The four of us approached and I turned to see Superboy still standing in his place raised a brow in question at him.

Robin took notice to and called him over, "Hey Superboy, come meet Miss M."

He joined us and Miss Martian morphed her white shirt into its now black color. "I like your shirt," she said to him quietly. Superboy gave her a small smile. The whole seen caused Robin to elbow him and Kid slinging an arm over Superboy's shoulder.

Aqualad looked at all of us and smiled, "Today is the day." We stayed there for a couple of hours before going to our homes.

That night I went to find Speedy. I'd given him a few days to cool off and do his brooding sullen "I'm done with everybody thing" it was time he got told the truth, hard. It wasn't the hard to find him. He was by the docks of Star City stopping an illegal trade of some sort. I stood by and watched him as he began to take down the criminals with his arrows. Then the boys intervened. Robin, Flash, Aqualad all appeared and began helping Speedy. Within minutes the fight ended with Speedy shooting the bad guy with an arrow that surrounded and captured the criminal in high density polyurethane foam. I got closer and was able to hear the end of their conversation.

"So, Speedy, you in?" Robin said asked confidently.

"Pass," Speedy said arrogantly, I rolled my eyes, "I'm done letting Arrow and the League telling me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hangout with the other kids. Your Junior Justice League is a joke. Something to keep you busy and in your place!" he said snidely and began walking away towards me. "I don't want any part of it."

He vanished from their view and came towards me. He didn't see me or if he did, he didn't acknowledge me. He ended up on the roof I was on and I hide in the shadows as he went to the far side and stood by the edge starring off looking for more trouble. Suddenly he turned around towards me arrow set in his bow. "Who's there?" he growled.

I walked out of the shadows dressed as Blue Raven including my mask. "Roy," I said simply.

He put his bow down, "Not you too," he said in anger.

I rolled my eyes, "Hello to you too, yes I am doing great thanks _so much_ for asking," I said sarcastically.

"I'm not joining that stupid baby version of the Justice League, Carter, so don't waste your breath," Roy huffed out.

"I'm not here for that, I'm not ignorant. I know you aren't going to join. You're way too stubborn for that," I said crossing my arms.

He looked at me in confusion, "Then why are you here?"

"Because I don't want to lose you too, Roy, I don't want to lose another brother," I said quietly.

He shook his head, "I'll always be here for you, Carter. You know that."

I raised an eye brow, "Even though I am in the "baby Justice League"?"

He laughed, "Yeah, you'll always be my _baby_ sister."

I snorted, "I can still kick your ass."

He snorted in response, "In your dreams."

"Yeah, sure, come on, Sleeping Beauty, let's go beat up some actual criminals."

He slung an arm over my shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze before he dropped his arm and looked over the edge to continue his watch.

**_Okay so let me just clarify something. No, they are not actually brother and sister they just think of each other in that light. Have questions? Ask them! In a review!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Recognized Blue Raven B04**_

"-was hollowed out by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League," Wally said as I caught the end of what he had said.

"Hey what are you guys talking about?" I said as I walked over to the group.

"Hey Raven," Robin said, "Wally was just talking about how the cave was made."

"Ah," I said in understanding, "So I'm guessing you guys asked?"

"Yeah, he said we will be tested soon and until then enjoy each other's company and explore our clubhouse," Wally grumbled.

I smirked, "I told you so," I sang cockily.

"Yeah, yeah," Wally mumbled.

"You know how they don't stray from their given assignments especially when their given by the Dark Knight himself," I said, "Besides this might be a good thing, boredom means no one is getting hurt."

"Says the girl that's been taking down a drug cartel in Star City with two League members for the past week," Robin said snidely.

I snorted, "Yeah like everything is so dull in Gotham, Boy Wonder. I saw you on the news this morning. Took down Penguin with the head of the League himself, so don't act like your life is so _boring_."

"Yeah," he says cockily, "I did, didn't I?"

"Hey, lovebirds, think we can continue the tour given by our favorite Martian," Wally said and looked towards Miss Martian, "Please continue, Beautiful."

I looked at him with narrowed eyes which were hidden under my sunglasses. Robin began protesting but was stopped short.

"So why did the Justice league abandon this for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asked.

"The cave's secret location was…compromised," Aqualad explained.

"So they traded it for a tourist trap? Yeah, that makes sense," Superboy said. _Oh if he only knew_.

"If the villains know of the cave we must be on constant alert," Miss Martian said as she looked worriedly at us.

"The bad guys know we know they know about the cave, so they'll never to think to look here," Robin said as he grabbed Miss Martian's hand in both of his "reassuring" her.

"Which means we are hidden in plain sight," Wally said as he detached their hands getting an evil glare from the Boy Wonder. I rolled my eyes, _Boys_.

"Besides, even if they did think to look here, we have one of the latest securities systems," I said, "We'd be informed and ready before they even realized it."

"I smell smoke," Superboy said sniffing the air.

Miss Martian gasped, "My cookies!" she exclaimed and flew off towards the kitchen we all followed and ended up in the kitchen as levitated a tray of what used to be cookies. The reason why I say used to, is because they were now like black charcoal discs.

"I was trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of –" she stopped herself, embarrassed, "Ugh never mind," she said quietly.

"I bet they would've tested great," Robin said reassuringly, "Besides, he doesn't mind." He gestured towards Wally who was stuffing his face with a "cookie" in each hand.

He looked around and saw us looking at him, he shrugged, "I have a serious metabolism," he said quietly with his mouth half full.

"I'll…make more?" Miss Martian suggested.

"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad nodded.

Miss Martian smiled, "Thanks, Aqualad."

"We're off duty," he said with a smile, "Call me Kaldur'amh. Actually my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally," he said leaning over the counter with an empty mouth, "See I already trust you with my secret ID unlike Mr. and Mrs. Dark glasses over there. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name and I guess Black Canary did the same with Raven."

I smirked, "Actually, Kid Mouth, I just never told you my real name out of my own choosing. BC is very open and allows me to do the same if I choose." I turned towards Miss Martian, "My name is Carter, and you can call me Car or Carter."

"Mine's no secret," she said, "its M'gann M'orzz. But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name and I'm on Earth now."

She glanced over at Superboy causing me to look at him as his face darkened and began to walk away. Seconds later he whipped around, "Stay OUT of my head," he yelled glaring at Miss Martian.

She looked perplexed, _What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically. _Her voice rang in my head causing a slight headache.

"M'gann stop," Kaldur snapped, "Things are different on Earth. Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

"Besides, Cadmus's creepy little genomes left a bad taste in his brain," Wally stage whispered to M'gann.

"I-I didn't mean to—"she said.

"Just. Stay. Out," Superboy growled and left out the room to sit on a couch in view. _Oh, we need to get that taking care of pronto_, I said to myself, _I am not dealing with a Roy 2.0_.

Kaldur caught my disapproving glare pointed at the sulking figure. He nodded towards him in question and I nodded, "I'll deal with it," I mouthed and he nodded.

"Hello Megan!" M'gann exclaimed startling me, "I know what we can do," she said before flying out of the room. We all shared a look before shrugging and walked out the room following her. M'gann hesitated and turned to Superboy.

"Superboy, please?" she said pleading.

"Don't talk to me," he said and turned away.

"Superboy," I snapped, "Team building, deal with it."

He turned to argue but my face shut him down. He still made no move. "Superboy, you have five second to get off the damn coach, or I swear—"

"What?" he snapped back, "What are you going to doing?"

I raised my eyebrow, "This!" I said and wrapped him in an energy field in a flick of my wrist binding his entire body except his head and levitated him off the coach. He started fighting but the kinetic energy only caused the blue haze to strengthen.

"LET ME GO!" he roared.

"Not until you calm down and stop moping because you didn't get your way. You may be a couple weeks old but it doesn't mean you have to act like it!" I snapped and turned around and walked towards the boys who looked at me dumbfounded, "What?!" I yelled in question, "Do you want to be an energy burrito too?" They all shook their heads, "Then shut your mouths before you start catching flies." I gestured forward to M'gann to continue. She walked a head with a small smile on her face and we all followed her to the hanger with a now calmer but still angry Superboy floating behind.

In the hanger sat a large oval shaped pod, M'gann gestured to it, "It's my Martian Bio-ship."

"Uh, cute," Wally said skeptically, "not aerodynamic but cute."

"It's at rest silly," M'gann giggled, "I'll wake it." With a wave of her hand the pod transformed into a large red and black ship similar to the size of a private charter jet. It hovered and turn a 180 opening a back door ramp. My eyes widened in childlike wonder. I turned to Superboy who was doing the same only on a severely muted level. He felt my staring and turned to glare.

I rolled my eyes, "Be nice," I said sternly and let him go. He just huffed and turned to look back at the ship.

M'gann entered the ship and we all followed like kids going into a candy store. The ship was spacious with only one seat but that quickly when five other seats appeared. "Strap in for launch," she said excitedly. We all sat down in chairs and seat belts appeared crisscrossing over our chests.

"Woah," Robin said as he spun forward in his chair at the same time Wally said cool.

"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors," M'gann requested as she rested her hands on two blue globe structures the formed out of the floor. The bay doors opened and we all prepared ourselves for takeoff. Then we were off and in the sky.

"Incredible!" Robin said as he looked out the window.

"She sure is," Wally said dreamily, looking at M'gann. Then he quickly backtracked when he saw all of us looking at him, "I mean the ship!" we all knew better.

"Fast with his feet," Robin said smirking, "Not so much with his mouth."

"DUDE!" Wally exclaimed.

I laughed and turned away to stare out the window only to catch Kaldur's gaze smiling, I smiled back. His face became serious after a moment and he nodded towards Superboy. He leaned forward and began smuttering to Superboy, "We might not have psychic powers, "I internally snorted, _That's what you think!_ I thought darkly, "but we know what you're thinking. You over reacted and you don't know how to apologize."

Superboy glanced towards me still butt hurt, "You really need to apologize, she is still adjusting just as you are. It's going to take a while for both of you to be fully understanding of things, "I said and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier and I hope you can forgive me but," I said with a smile, "You kind of asked for it, I had to deliver," I said earning a small mouth twitch, "it's simple, Superboy. Just say "I'm sorry" and try to stop over reacting. We are all adjusting to each other and we will get on one another's nerves."

He looked away from the both of us and stared out the window, I looked at Kaldur and shrugged.

Behind me, Robin had turned towards M'gann, "He'll come around," he muttered to her.

"He doesn't seen to like me much," she mumbled unconvinced.

"You guys remember he has super hearing right?" Wally stage whispered. That quickly ended the conversation.

"Hey how about showing us a little Martian shape shifting?" Robin asked smoothly changing topic. M'gann stood up as everyone turned around in our seats. She first turned into a female version of Robin and then turned spun around and transformed into a female version of Kid Flash. Then she turned to me and I saw before my eyes, Blue Raven. An exact replica of me in uniform down to a t.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, "M'gann, that is amazing." She turned back into her normal appearance and sat back down.

"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, very."

"Impressive," Robin said, "But you know you're not exactly going to fool anyone with those."

She sighed, "Mimicking boys is a lot harder," she said nervously looking at her feet.

"And your clothes?" Kaldur asked.

"They're organic," she said as she pulled away her pink jacket from her body like play-doh only to let it go and have it revert back to its shape, "like the ship. They respond to my mental commands."

"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy muttered loudly.

"Well you still did perfect on me, M'gann," I said assuring her, causing her to look up, "You even got my sun glasses details right."

"Speaking of sun glasses," Wally said, "why are you wearing them if you aren't trying to hide your identity?"

I visibly shrunk back into my chair and sighed, "When the scientists were preforming experiments on me when I was younger, their chemical cocktails caused a lot of genetic mutations. They changed my hair color and caused complete heterochromia in my eyes," I said and took off my shades and pushed my hair back behind my ears. "People tend to stare so to get stop them, I just put these on or color contacts. Mostly the glasses though because my body causes the contacts to dissolve. In high school I had to carry at least three packs with me."

"Wait, you've graduated already?" Robin asked confused.

I blushed and put my sun glasses on, "Their experiment resulted in me having more use of my brain than normal. A human with normal brain can consciously access roughly 10% of its actual capacity while the rest is involuntary control or not used because the proper stimuli is not there. According to the tests done by both them and the League, I can access more than twice that at around 26-30%. It allowed me to remember everything, every word I have ever read, every word spoken with in a hundred foot radius, every detail, is saved in my mind. I can learn languages within hours when interacting with a fluent speaker. I can remember everything and process it at an accelerated rate. When Black Canary first took me in when I was 9, the school system required me to be tested to know my academic standing and I tested out of high school. I was labeled a child prodigy. I'm taking online classes right now for my Bachelor's degree in Biological engineering with a minor in psychology."

I looked up to see very shocked faces. I'm pretty sure I just broke Wally whose face hadn't moved in a while.

"That's remarkable," Kaldur said staring at me in wonder.

I shook my head, "It's not all it's cracked up to be. Everyone looks at me as if I'm a walking search engine, everyone assumes I know everything. I have gotten called names, been talked about behind my back, told I was an abomination. Which I am in a way, but it still kind of stings when they say it to your face."

"Who the hell said that?" Wally said snapping out of his shock.

"It was a long time ago, Wally, don't worry about it," I said and turned away from everyone to look out the window.

Uncomfortable silence followed, but was ended quickly, "M'gann, can you do the ghostly through walls thing like Manhunter does?" he asked changing the subject.

"Density shifting?" she asked, "No, it's a very advanced technique."

"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," Robin said, "But when he tries, bloody nose."

"Dude!" Wally said whining, causing me to smile.

"Here's something I can do," M'gann said as she altered our course from the unpopulated country to flying over the main town, "Camouflage mode." She said and I saw the wings of the ship disappear outside.

Before anyone could say anything else, the voice of an android came over the speakers, "Red Tornado to Miss Martian, an emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbour Power Plant. I suggest you investigate. Covertly. I'm sending coordinates."

"Received, adjusting course," M'gann said and then cut the transmission.

"Tornado's keeping us busy again," Robin grumbled.

"Well, a simple fir led you to Superboy," M'gann said as she began parking in an empty parking lot, "We should find out what caused the alert."

Suddenly I saw a swirl of air head toward us, "Guys!"

"I think I know the cause," Superboy said just as the tornado reached us.

M'gann tried to stabilize us as we spun in the vortex and thankfully steered us out of the wind before any of us got sick. She parked behind the power plant and opened a hatch below. Our seatbelts retracted and we all hoped down on the ground.

"Robin," Aqualad yelled, "Are tornados common in New England?" he asked as he turned behind him. Boy wonder however was gone already with the creepy laugh on cue.

"I HATE when he does that!"I exclaimed looking for Robin.

"But he was just here," M'gann said confused.

Just then the windows of the power plant began shattering out, sprinkling the cement with glass. I began running towards the structure and everyone followed. We found the Boy Wonder on the ground, conscious thankfully, in front of a red and black Android with blue glowing tube connecting from his back to his forearms. Superboy jumped and landed by Robin, "Whose your new friend?"

"Didn't catch his name but he plays kind of rough," he said as Superboy left his side to charge at the android.

"My apologies," the android stated in a mechanical voice, "Call me Mr. Twister." As he said that he sent two small twisters at us with a flick of his wrists slowing down Superboy and flinging him at the wall, cracking the cement on impact.

"Oh yeah," I said mockingly with two energy balls forming in my hands, "Twist this!" I said throwing them at him as Wally ran at him from behind me. Mr. Twister tossed Wally aside out the other entrance and dodge my attack causing them to slam into the wall causing black marks on the walls. M'gann and Kaldur ran at him only to be blown away and hit the walls. I looked at Robin who was reaching for something underneath his sweater. I looked at him perplexed but then I remember something he said to me a while back.

"Rule number one?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded revealing a small metal device in his hand. We both turned to look at Mr. Twister who had started talking crap.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not expecting children," he said mockingly.

"We're not children," Robin said angrily and threw two birdarangs at the android, I followed with two more energy balls. They barely phased him.

"Objectively you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence quite disturbing," Mr. Twister said mocking us again.

M'gann, Aqualad, and Superboy walked up behind us appearing unharmed. "This guy is really starting to piss me off," I said angrily.

"Well we'd hate to see you disturbed," Robin said sarcastically, "let's see if you are more turbed once we kick your can." _Oh I really need to talk to him about this word thing_.

M'gann telepathically pulled at a chute of some sort over the android causing smoke to cloud around it. Superboy jumped at him only to be halted and slammed into the roof before coming down and hitting a flying M'gann knocking them both to the ground again. The three of us left, I have no idea where Wally was, ran at him only to be caught in small cyclones ourselves and slammed into on another knocking us to the ground. "Indeed, that was quite turbing, thank you," he said as he flew out the building.

Aqualad got up and helped me off the ground, "How the hell do we beat this thing?" I asked rubbing my shoulder.

"We can over charge the circuitry," Robin suggested.

"Yeah but how can we get close enough to him to do that?" I asked.

They all shrugged, we all turned to hear Wally outside asking Mr. Twister where we were. We ran out of the building and saw Wally get a twister thrown at him. M'gann put a hand out palm forward and as the dust cleared we saw Wally floating in the air, "I got you, Wally," she said smiling as she lowered him to the ground.

"I would have thought you all would've learned your limitations by now," the android said loudly.

Kaldur step closer to him, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he yelled angrily at the android.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said and began floating up, "I'm waiting for a real hero."

"Um, ow," Wally said.

"Read his mine and find a weakness!" Kaldur said to M'gann.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that?" she asked confused.

"It's okay with the bad guys," Robin yelled angrily.

M'gann concentrated and then after a moment or two exclaimed, "Nothing! I'm getting nothing!" Her face then morphed into understanding and she lightly slapped her forehead, "Hello Megan! Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android! How many androids do you know that can generate tornados?"

"Red Tornado sent us here!" Kaldur stated.

"Right after saying we'd be tested soon enough," Robin said angrily looking at Wally, then turning to us. "This is his test something to keep us busy."

"You guys I don't think so," I yelled, "He would not go as far as destroying a building that provides energy for the entire city." However, the idiots paid no mind to me and just kept getting angry.

"Speedy called it we're a joke," Wally said, "This game is so over."

The three of them stormed closer to Mr. Twister, leaving Superboy, M'gann, and I behind. "We know who you are and what you want," Robin yelled at the android angrily.

"So let's finish this!" Kaldur finished. That's when it took a turn for the worse.

"Considerate ended," the android said as it raised its arms to the air extending to two twisters to the sky which was turning black. Yet the three stooges still didn't back down.

"An impressive show," yelled Kaldur, "but we will not indulge you. We will not engage!" By this time a third twister formed in between the two above his head and lightening began striking but not meeting the ground, that's when they finally took notice.

"Hey uh….can Red tornado do that?" Wally asked.

"You think I'm tornado? Ironic!" he exclaimed and the lightning struck the ground causing all of us to fly back hitting the ground. Well except for Superboy who ripped off his torn jacket and jumped at the android only to get struck by lightning and landing on the ground a sliding to us while making a ditch in the ground. I rubbed my head and looked up to see Mr. Twister approaching us I attempted to put up an energy shield but my mind couldn't concentrate enough. Luckily M'gann could concentrate and moved the bio-ship which was still in camouflage in front of us making us vanish in sight.

This angered the android, "Fine then! I won't deny you children have power. But playing hide and seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives so stay concealed!" he demanded, "If you confront me again I will show you no mercy." Then he flew away.

"What happened?" Wally asked rubbing his head.

"I put the bio-ship between us," M'gann explained.

"And that's supposed to make it right?" Superboy yelled angrily and stormed over, "You tricked us onto thinking Twister was Red Tornado."

I jumped up from my spot and stormed up to him, "No you did!" I yelled back, pissed off, "You all did! You just accepted it because of her logical reasoning. I expressed my doubt but _no_, no one listened. And you three," I yelled spinning around, "When the hell did you guys become Speedy stooges one, two, and three, hmm? You all should have known better!"

"You're right, Carter," Kaldur said, "She didn't do it on purpose."

"It was a rookie mistake, we shouldn't have listened," Robin said.

"You are pretty inexperienced," Wally said shoving his hands in the pockets, "Hit the showers, we'll take it from here."

"Stay out of our way," Superboy said before turning to walk away. Wally began to follow him.

"OH HELL NO!" I exclaimed blocking them off with a shield. "Get your asses back here right now!" I snarled and turned to M'gann who was walking to her ship, "M'gann M'orzz, you come back here too! The whole reason we are here is because we are a team! To gain experience together, working TOGETHER. Sending someone "to the showers" will not help her learn better and don't you boys dare act like that whole disaster was any less your fault than it was mine or hers. We didn't go in with a plan now look where we ended up. Now you _two idiots_ are going to leave again and go attack the guy who just tossed all _six _of us aside with a lightning bolt, 'cause you know that's _so_ smart!"

"Well do you have any brilliant ideas you'd like to share?" Robin said sarcastically. Then it came to me.

"I do actually, Boy Blunder, we are going to give him exactly what he wants," I said looking at M'gann.

"No, no way are we calling Red Tornado," Wally said.

I rolled my eyes and walked behind M'gann and placed my hands on her shoulders, "We don't have to, she or I guess he is right here," I said simply. They all began smiling in understanding, even Superboy looked intrigued. "So here's my idea…."

_**So yeah I hope you guys can see the part that Carter plays in the team she is the "shit caller" which means she will call the boys out on their stupidity. She will play more than that as you see her interactions more and more. I got so pissed when I saw that part where they all went at her, like she is a newbie give it a rest guys it was your fault too. And I know I kind of made Carter (Blue Raven) stole the original M'gann's idea, but she got that when she left and talked to Red Tornado. Carter refused for her to leave so who else was going to get the idea than the super brain herself? Now Carter's relationship with Superboy is similar to the one she and Speedy had when they first meet. She doesn't want Superboy to become the person she is in a way. She hates what she is but she has the understanding that it's not her fault and she wants him to realize they are all there for him. That they accept him for who he is so he needs to stop acting like the world is against him and Carter is slowly trying to make him realize that by giving him a whole lot of tough love. **_


	6. Chapter 6

_**So you guys are boss...500+ views...:) this makes me a very happy author even though I literally like own one character and my kind of plot. Now this is the reward CHAPTER 6!... Now I have a request for you guys... This story with all the traffic it gets...only has 13 reviews... I want 30 for you guys to get the next chapter... Evil I know but I really want to know how I am doing you guys and I want to know what you think. Sooooo review and tell me what you like what you don't like what is stupid what is brilliant let me know In that little white box at the bottom of the page. **_

The boys began fighting Mr. Twister at the harbor while I ushered away all the civilians out of the area. After a couple minutes of destroying a Victorian house on the beach and flinging several boats out of the water, Red Tornado intervened. I stood back at the forest line out of Mr. Twister's sight.

"Hit the showers, boys," he said in his mechanical voice as he landed in front of the group, "I was hoping you could handle this, clearly you cannot."

"Oh come on, we have a plan now," Robin said in vain.

"The subject is not up for debate," The hero android said and the boys all walked away with their heads down and smirks on their faces.

"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Mr. Twister said mockingly.

"I'm here now," Red Tornado said and shot his hand out palm facing the ground and a small cyclone formed behind him. He threw it at the other android which he dodged. Twister made another cyclone and combined it with the other to make a bigger one which he sent right back at Red Tornado.

RT held his hand out and made the cyclone dissipate, "We are evenly matched Twister," he said as another cyclone appeared behind him picking up rocks for the destruction and throwing it towards Twister.

"No, Tornado, we are not," Twister said as he punched the ground and caused a weird air effect that created a shield for the oncoming projectiles. Once there were no more, the evil android shot all his hands towards RT shooting out lightening. RT flew behind a wrecked boat, Twister followed him with the lighting and hit the temporary shelter causing an explosion.

_Get ready_, I said through the mental link.

Red Tornado landed on the ground and Twister flew over, "Remain still, Android," Twister said as little wires appeared out his fingers and attached to Red Tornado. "Programming won't take long."

_Now!_ I said as I moved out from my spot and got into my place. _M'gann, now_!

Red Tornado turned his head towards Twister and revealed M'gann head, "Longer than you think," she said as she gripped the wires.

Twister let out a dramatic no and was taken up in a twister behind him that tossed him towards Superboy. The cyclone dissipated to reveal a very happy Wally in his goggles. I turned to see Superboy land a good few punches that caused black smoke and visible electric currents on the surface of Twister's metal structure. Superboy landed on last hard punch in the face that landed Twister in the water where Kaldur was. Through the mind link I could see the Atlantian had electrocuted him causing Twister to explode out of the water and onto shore. M'gann, now in her original clothes and body, levitated him into the air. With just a movement of her arms she telepathically removed Twister's arms. Robin came in from behind and threw a couple of birdarangs at the armless android. The explosion caused M'gann to let her hold on him go causing it fall on the ground. Suddenly hatches on the chest flew open revealing an adult male in green to fall on the ground face first.

"Foul…I-I call foul," he said in a high pitched voice. To my ears it hinted at an animatronic voice.

M'gann must have discovered it as well because she levitated a nearby boulder and crushed the human-like android. That cause a little stir in the boys.

"Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth we don't execute our captive," Robin yelled and he turned to me, "And you just let her do it!"

I laughed, "Relax, Boy Wonder, look for yourselves," I said amusing and gestured to the structure.

M'gann smiling as well lifted the boulder and threw it several yards away. "That's why I couldn't read his mind," she said smugly. The boys were all in shock and we shared a glance.

"Cool." Wally stepped towards the smashed android and picked a mechanical eyeball that had detached. "Souvenir."

I took off my glassed and crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the boys, "Now is there something you would like to say to our favorite Martian, boys?"

"We should've had more faith in you," Kaldur said stepping forward and placing a hand on M'gann's shoulder.

"Yeah, you rocked this mission," Wally said and I rolled my eyes, The Flashes and their puns, "Get it, "rocked"?"

Robin shook his head at Wally and looked at M'gann, "Ignore him. We're all just turbed you're on the team."

We all smiled, even Superboy.

We loaded Twister's body and the pancaked android onto the ship and reported it to Red Tornado, the real one, back at the cave.

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Kaldur said narrowing his eyes at the part.

"Agreed," Red Tornado said.

"Is that why you didn't come help us?" M'gann asked.

"No, this was your battle," he said, "I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me."

"But if you're in danger," M'gann began.

"Consider this matter closed," he said sternly and then turned to walk away.

"Batman, Aquaman, Black Canary, and Flash would have jumped right in to fix things," Wally muttered.

"Eh, BC would have waited until it became lethal," I said examining the arm of Twister everyone turned to look at me, "She has a more "hands on in the field" view of teaching."

Robin shrugged, "Guess if we're going to have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need."

"Dude! Harsh," Wally said.

"And in accurate," Red Tornado said, "I have a heart, Carbon Steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."

"Right. Sorry, I'll strive to be more accurate", Robin said to Red Tornado's retreating form.

"And more respectful," Aqualad said laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, the last thing we need is another Speedy attitude," I said.

"Speedy was so wrong," Wally said.

"This team thing…" Robin started.

"Might just work out," Kaldur finished.

The boys began walking down the hall leaving M'gann, Superboy, and myself. The other two looked at each other for a couple of seconds. I watched Superboy's face from the corner of my eye, his face started out hard shielded then he relaxed and put down his wall.

"Sorry," he said at M'gann quietly and then turned to follow the other boys. Once he was out of hearing range I looked at her and smiled.

"See, he's getting better, he just needs a girl's touch," I said causing her to blush. I got up from my place and laced my arms with her as we followed the boys, "Now let's go try that recipe from earlier again, we deserve sweets after today."

"Is this what they call girl-time?" she asked quietly.

I smiled, "With those boys hovering in the kitchen? No, but we will definitely do that sometime soon."

We ended up making and eating several dozen cookies, mostly eaten by Wally before he had to go home. Robin got called by Batman soon after for something in Gotham causing him to leave soon after. The rest I left watching television, I sat on a small cliff a small climb away from the back entrance to the cave that over looked the beach. I sat hugging my knees to my chest my sun glasses sitting on top of my head as I stared out into the night.

It was calming as I concentrated on the waves hitting the shore, I didn't even notice until he was right beside me.

"Would you mind if I sat here?" Kaldur said standing next to me. I turned my head to look up at him.

I gave him a small smile, "I don't mind at all," I said quietly I picked myself up by my arms and scooted myself over to make room for him.

We were quiet for a few moments and then he spoke, "It is so serene and calming."

I nodded, "Especially without Robin or Wally around," I said smiling.

"Yes, they can be very…talkative," Kaldur said.

"So what did you want to talk about, Kaldur?" I asked he turned and looked at guilty.

"Nothing, ever gets passed you," he stated with a smile.

I shrugged, "Someone's got to keep you on your toes," I teased.

He smiled and laid a hand on my shoulder, "I just came to thank you for what you did today, we needed that, and we probably could not have defeated Mr. Twister without you," he said sincerely looking me right in the eyes.

I shrugged, "You guys would have had it without me too, but don't worry I'll always be here to tell you guys when you're being idiots," I said with a smile and my hand on his hand that was on my shoulder.

"We will always appreciate it," he said smiling back. Then it happened like something straight from the script of a chick flick, we stared into each other's eyes for several moments. Only to be interrupted by a cell phone, mine classically. I turned away and pulled my cell phone out and answered. His hand fell from my shoulder.

"Raven," I answered.

"Carter, are you going to be long? Oliver and I could use some help to gather the last of the cartel," Dinah asked wind rustling in the background.

"I'll be there in ten minutes," I said.

"Good, meet us at the usual," she said and hung up.

I turned to him and smiled sheepishly, "Duty calls."

He nodded, "I understand."

I stood up and was about to climb down but he grabbed my hand, I turned to look at him, "Carter, if you ever need to talk to anyone, you can always come to me," he said and let go of my hand, "That was what I actually came to tell you."

I smiled and leaned down and kissed him on his cheek, "I'll keep that in mind."

I climbed down and was walking towards the entrance of the cave when he called my name, I looked up at him, "Yeah?"

"Hit them, hard," he said with a smile.

"Don't I always?" I called back to him causing him to laugh.

That night was a tough one, the rest of the cartel were not going down without a fight, and what a fight it was! It was exhilarating to say the least, because three against thirty gangsters with machine guns made for an incredible night. By the end of the night we were all on an adrenaline high, which quickly dissipated once we got home. I laid down and my bed and sleep for sixteen hour, awake just in time for patrol.

It wasn't as eventful, an attempted robbery here and there, and attempted rape which we stopped very quickly. We stood on top of a roof glancing around listening for any new crimes about to be committed.

"So how is the team going?" BC asked not looking away from her watch.

I shrugged, "It's still new, with that ordeal at Happy Harbour we started out horribly. Everyone is so used to being in sync with their mentors or not exactly knowing what to do because of inexperience. And the boys," I scoffed and rolled my eyes, "they just think they are so tough and just the bad guys seeing them will cause them to falter."

She laughed, "I guess it'd going to be your job to tell them otherwise?" she asked amused.

"I don't want it to be but they leave me no other choice! They just think we can go into a situation and defeat anything with brute strength! Not tactic or stealth and certainly no plan, they act like that's a forbidden mystical object." I ranted.

"Well, hopefully, I can be of some help next week, it's my first session with the team."

"Good they need to get knocked down to size," I grumbled. I turned my head and heard a woman screaming for help, "I got it," I said as I formed an energy disc and jumped on

"Call if you need me."

"Always."

Needless to say I didn't need her. It was a simple purse mugging that went horribly wrong for the mugger. The night ended there, as it was uneventful for the rest of the night and several nights after that. Then I got _the_ call, finally.

"Robin to Blue Raven, report to Mount Justice," Robin said over the com.

"We got a mission," I stated excitedly.

"Yeah, now come on we need to get debriefed!"

I was at the cave in five minutes, and discovered I was the last one there. I stood next to Wally who was eating a bag of chips. I raised an eyebrow in question and he just shrugged and offered me some, which I turned down.

"Isla Santa Prisca," Batman said as stood in front of holograph that showed a map of the island located in the Caribbean. "This island nation is the primary sourse of dangerous and illegal neo-steroid, a strength enhancing drug, sold on the street, named Venom," my head perked at the name.

"Also causes extreme hallucinations," I said causing everyone to look at me, "That's one of the drugs the Cartels' were distributing in Star City. This caused a hooker to eat her purse and a cardboard cutout of the mayor."

"Correct, infrared heat signatures indicate that their factory is still operating at full capacity, but all the shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in," he looked pointedly at us, "This is a _**covert recon**_ mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene it will." He turned back to the holograph and pulled up a new image. "The plan requires two drop zones."

"So who's in charge?" Robin asked anxiously.

Batman and Red Tornado exchanged a look before both turned to us, "Work that out between you."

I groaned internally. _This is going to be an eventful night_, I though sarcastically. We all changed out of civvies and into our uniforms and loaded up into the Bio-ship. The ride was extremely quiet with tension and I didn't like it one bit. I sat in the back corner to the left of Miss Martian. In front of me sat Aqualad and across from us was Superboy and Robin and at the center front was Kid Flash.

"Approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian announced. I nodded in conformation and began typing on the computer in front of me to pull up images and weather conditions of the island.

"Island Temperature 82 degrees Fahrenheit on the coast, 70 percent humidity, likelihood of precipitation 50%, wind speeds 3 miles per hour North East, barometric pressure average, water temperature 72 degrees Fahrenheit," I said out loud.

Kid Flash turned around in his chair, "Why'd you look that stuff up, Raven?" he asked curiously.

"Well weather conditions though small, do effect my powers. Organisms make more energy at their ideal environmental conditions. Since this is the usual climate, the islands inhabitants are most likely making excess energy giving it off in their environments," I said, "I said them aloud because with this still being new I don't know if anyone else is affected."

He nodded and turned around in his chair.

"Drop Zone A in thirty," Miss Martian said a loud as a timer appeared on all our screen, Aqualad stood up and his chair morphed back into the floor. He tapped on his buckled turning his red top into a dark gray. He looked up at Miss Martian, "Ready," he confirmed.

Miss Martian nodded, "Putting Bio Ship in camouflage mode," she said and began descending to get closer to the water. "Good luck, Kaldur, be careful," I said. He turned to me and nodded with a small smile on his face. I looked back down at the screen, "T-minus ten seconds." A hole opened up on the floor and Aqualad got into a diving position. "Now!"

He was gone in and instant into the water and his position appeared on the map seconds later. After traveling a couple feet his dot paused.

"Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on continuous loop. Move in," he said seconds later over the com.

"Message received," I said over the com as I stood up as did the others as we hovered over Drop Zone B. Our chairs disappeared into the floor and ropes appeared from the ceiling to lower down Robin and Kid Flash. They attached the hooks to their belts. Kid Flash tapped the lightening symbol on his chest causing his suit to change from yellow and red to black and dark gray.

"How cool is this?" he asked.

"Very impressive," Miss Martian said and then changed her skirt and top into a body suit with a red x.

"Uh, that works too," Kid said quietly, then he turned to look at Superboy, "Hey, Supey, it's not too late to put on the new stealth tech."

"No capes, not tights, no offense," he said.

"It totally works for you," Miss Martian said staring at him with a dreamy like expression. I put a hand over my mouth to hide my amusement. She saw we were all looking at her and she quickly attempted to "explain herself". "In that you can totally do good work in those clothes," she said quickly and threw him a thumbs up. Superboy turned away and she threw her hood over her head and concealed herself making her vanish.

She opened the floor to reveal the forest below us I formed an energy disc and jumped on it and lowered myself down dissipating it as I reached the ground. I turned to see the others minus one and I looked up to see Superboy jumping down. I jumped out of the way just in time.

"Knew I didn't need a line," He said smirking.

I frowned at him. "Creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert," Robin snapped before I could say anything.

"Aqualad, Drop B is go," Miss Maritain said through the com.

"Head for the factory, I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP," he said back.

"Copy, we'll let you know when we reach the target," I said through the com, "Be careful and alert us if you need any assistance."

"Agreed."

We began making our way to factory in silence staying alert and as quiet as possible. The only sounds we ever made were the occasional stepping on a twig or when Robin opened his holograph to make sure we stayed on course. It went fine until Superboy stopped. "Did you hear that?" he asked suddenly. We all stopped and began listening. I heard nothing and then I heard it to.

"Footsteps," I said turning to look at him he nodded in confirmation.

"Is this a super hearing thing?" Kid Flash asked.

"You do have great ears," Miss Martian said dreamy like towards Superboy.

"Okay, Rob, now what?" Kid asked before turning around and seeing that Robin wasn't there, "Man, I hate it when he does that?"

"Me too, and he is not going to answer the com either," I said angrily, "Does he not realize he was our map!"

"Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared. See if you are being tracked," Aqualad said through the com.

Kid put his goggled on and looked in one direction, "Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," he said and we all ducked down behind some fallen trees.

Superboy looked in the other direction, "Two squads, but they'll meet each other before they find us."

We heard shots fired in the distance from machine guns. "No super hearing required now," Kid said.

"Swing wide, steer clear," Aqualad said through the com.

"Yeah, yeah as soon as I find Rob," he said and was off. That's when things went wrong.

He slipped on mud while running and he slipped causing him to fall down hill and land right in the middle of the gun battle.

"So much for stealth," his voice could be heard through the com.

"Shit," I exclaimed as both of the groups began shooting at him. He ran away with no injury thankfully, but now we had to take care of the goons. Superboy got their first and attacked the leader of one of the groups. While he slammed the leader into a tree, Boy Wonder appeared and was scolding us.

"What is wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead? Vanish into the jungle!" he said as he took down two guys that were still shooting at Kid who was up a tree. He jumped down and kicking knocked another guy out and turned to Robin.

"That's what you were doing? Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers you know!" he said before turning to see Miss Martian using her telekinesis to throw two more against a tree. I was fighting a goon of my own who I finally knocked out with a good knee to the forehead. I took him in a hold of my energy field and threw him against two more that were coming at me. one of them dodged and came straight at me. He was quick and had me held against a tree by my wrists.

"Big mistake!" I said as I head butted him, hard. He let got of me immediately to hold his head as he cursed in Spanish. I took that opportunity and kicked him in the knee and he quickly buckled. He looked up at me just in time to see my intertwined hands swing and hit him in the face effectively knocking him out. I looked up to see Aqualad appear and take out the last one.

I turned to Robin and marched right up to him, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do—" he started cutting me off and I slapped him upside the head

"Shut up I was not done, Bird Boy, now lets get something straight right here and right now you doing this disappearing shit ends NOW! Because every time you do without telling anybody everything goes to hell."

"So you're saying this is my fault?" he asked me angrily.

"Kid wouldn't have blown our cover if he didn't have to go looking for you. You always do this, Rob, disappear and assume we know what's going on. We are not Batman!" I exclaimed and walked away.

He said nothing as we began gathering up the goons and tied their hands together and their torsos to a tree. "I recognize these uniforms," he muttered, "They belong to the cult of the Kobra."

"I am certain Batman would've mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Aqualad spoke.

"Agreed," Robin said with a nod, "And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultist and these goons I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out! That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it!" Kid Flash said, "Kobra wanted super cultists. Mystery solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for—"

"These cultists aren't on Venom," Robin said obviously, "Kobra's hording this stuff. We don't leave, not until I know why," he said sternly.

"Until you know why," Kid sneered.

"This team needs a leader," Robin said in the same tone.

"And it's you?" Kid said incredulously, "Dude, you're a thirteen year old kid, who ducked out on us without a word."

"And you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover the first chance you got."

Aqualad stood next to me as we continued looking at them argue with each other. "Do you want to be leader?" he asked me quietly.

I shook my head, "No, with my temper I couldn't be level headed enough. Besides, I have enough on my mind."

He nodded in understanding and I walked over towards the group of goon and focused on two of the goons talking in Spanish about some type of plan.

"For now I play along, they'll give me what I want," the leader said. I jumped in front of him and knelled down slightly startling the other guy but not phasing the leader.

"Oh and what would that be, Bane?" I asked coldly, "Por favor no illumine (please enlighten us)."

"Ah ¿Batman consiguió a un nuevo sidekick? Eres un ave mucho más bonito que la otra uno, Chica, (Did Batman get a new sidekick? You're a much prettier bird than the other one, Girl.)"

"Sus elogios están vacías, qué quieres? (Your compliments are empty, what do you want?)" I asked furious, "And no he did not," I answered in English.

"Such cleaver, ninos," he said with a laugh, "But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory, via my secret entrance." I narrowed my eyes.

Miss Martian came to kneel at my side and read his mind, "There is a secret entrance," she said glaring at him, "But he's also hiding something," she said as her eyes began to glow white.

"Ah, ah, ah, Chica. Bane is not that easy."

"Ugh! He's mentally reciting football scores in Espanol. This could take a while."

"It's not that complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend," he said smirking at me.

"Yeah," I said snorting, "You are such an adorable and cynical friend of ours."

I looked at other who were looking at me, "We are actually going to listen to him?" I asked incredulously, they nodded, and I huffed and looked at Bane. "Listen here, Nino, you so much as put your foot out of place and I guarantee personally that you will have no ninos of your own, got it?" I growled. He smirked and nodded and I got him out the rope. Bane took one last look at me before leading the way.


	7. Chapter 7

_**See you guys that's all i wanted was a couple of reviews to make sure i'm on the right track. now i didn't post some of the reviews and here's why. they bashed me for "withholding chapters for reviews" yeah sure i was doing that but to better the story. bashing me and saying i am "review hog" is not exactly helping my story so i understandably declined your anonymous review that was bashing me and had literally no comment about the story. so to the good reviewers who actually read and understood what i was asking...here ya go! hope it is another good one.**_

_**oh and to comment on what someone said about Carter being angry all the time and toning it down, she's going to calm down eventually. after the guys finally stop pissing her off...admit it you'd be pissed to if no one followed that plan and got you shot at. **_

We walked through the jungle for twenty minutes before coming to a cliff that over looked the factory. Robin pulled out binoculars from him belt and watched the cultists moving product, lots of it.

"Look at all that product," he whispered quietly to us, "a buy is going down, but if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects…"

"We need to identify that buyer," Aqualad said firmly.

"Just what I was thinking," Kid said with a nod.

"Yeah! You're the thinker," Robin said sarcastically. I took the binoculars from his hand and slapped him upside the head.

"Sarcasm? Dude a real leader would be focused on getting answers," Kid said.

"Yea,h well, a real team would shut the hell up before they piss me off or get our cover blown. So unless you want to get kicked of this cliff, can it with the arguing," I said sternly and looked at the shipments closely. "Now each of those crates carries a thousand vials there are about a hundred crates, that's enough to make a whole city of super powered druggies. We need to get rid of that."

I turned around to see Bane moving towards side of the mountain where he moved a giant boulder to reveal a tunnel. "Answers are this way," he said with a smirk.

I walked up and looked inside, "After you," he said looking at me.

"No, thank you, your tunnel your lead," I said. He shrugged and began walking.

"So now El Luchador is our leader!" Kid exclaimed in a huff. Robin smacked him. "Ow!"

"That's it," I turned and grabbed them both by their shirts, "Listen and listen damn good, we are in this situation right now because you guys are having a pissing contest over being leader. Well guess what? Neither of you are getting because you are acting like children and I will not be killed over my leader wanting to go against our mission for selfish curiosity. So since we all feel it is necessary we are following an enemy through a creepy ass tunnel and neither of you are suspicious? How about we settle who the fuck is our leader when we actually survive as a fucking team, got it?"

"Yep!" "Yeah!"

"Good," I said and released their shirts and then slapped them both upside the head. "Now for the rest of the night the words coming out your mouths should have something to do with this mission."

I turned around and began following Bane. They whole group followed quietly. After only a couple of minutes we reached the end of the tunnel. Bane turned to a wall where a finger print scanner was and placed his thumb on the reader. A door opened that lead straight into the back of the factory. Robin ran out the door after he gave the all clear and vanished again. We all took notice except for Bane. He did after a while though because he commented, "Has that little fool already been caught?"

"No he just does that," Aqualad said sourly.

"Stay put," Kid said as he put his goggles over his eyes, "I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder." He vanished before he heard Aqualad's protest.

"Great chain of command," Bane said to us sarcastically.

"Hmm, that's odd," I said watching Robin using his grappling gun to get into a glassed room on the second floor, "I didn't hear any one ask for your opinion." I looked at Aqualad who followed my gaze and saw the Boy Wonder slip into the room. He nodded as I gestured to the cat walk. "I'll be right back." I said as I approached one of the large wells closest to the cat walk. I climbed the ladder until I got to the top and jumped to catch the edge of the cat walk. I climbed over the rails and made my way to the room where both the boy were. I looked over their shoulders to see 3D representations of organic molecules I recognized. "Is that what I think it is?" I asked horrified.

Kid nodded, "Kobra combined Venom and Project Blockbuster to make the effects three times stronger and permanent."

"But how did Kobra get a hold of Blockbuster? The Justice League took all of the projects from Cadmus. Unless," and they turned to look at me when I paused, "what if those that were in charge of Cadmus are the suppliers of Blockbuster?"

"Then they are working together to create a super formula," Robin said.

"But why would they just supply?" Kid asked and then it all hit us.

"They're the buyers!" we all said together.

Robin tapped his com. "Robin to Aqualad! We got….static," he said looking at us.

"Let's move now," I said making my way for the door, "The best thing we can do is find the others and leav—" I was stopped by gun fire. I turned in horror to the boys and then ran out of the room with them right behind me. I ran and jumped over the catwalk onto the ground floor where two Kobra cultists were with machine guns. I grabbed the one the right by the barrel of his gun and pulled him towards me and connected my fist with his face. I took the gun with both hands and whirled around and hit the others gun out of his hand and rounded on him again hitting him in the side of the head knocking him out. I armed myself with the gun and ran towards where more shots were fired. Switching it to manual fire as I ran. Several of them were shooting at Aqualad. I shielded myself behind a well and began shooting. Being trained alongside Roy under Oliver you learn aim of several things arrow related, crossbows, regular bow and arrows you named it, but being the protégé of Black Canary, she taught me more than hand to hand combat. So needless to say I was a good shot. I took down four of the guys shooting at Aqualad in the shoulders and even hit one that was trying to snipe on the second floor. Aqualad began taking some down to with a gun of his own of Atlantian origin made from the interchangeable weapons he carried on his back. Once he was down to one I approached him and took out a guys on the side of him this time just hitting him with the butt of the gun that I had put on safety. I smiled at him before seeing an explosion appear over his shoulder that knocked Miss Martian into the wall. Then more cultists appeared and we retreated behind a larger support beam. Two more cultists appeared behind us and Kid came from behind them and took them out then took cover across from us from gun fire.

"The coms aren't working," I said as I saw Aqualad trying his.

"Miss Martian," he yelled, "The coms are jammed, link us up!"

_Everyone online. _Miss Martian said in our heads

_ Yeah_, Superboy said glumly

_ You know it, beautiful, _Kid said smirking.

_Good we need to regroup, _Aqualad said.

_Busy, right now_, Robin said.

_I DON'T CARE, you better be here in five minutes or I will find you and I will make Batman's worse look like a puppy, Robin, _I snarled making Aqualad and Kid both to visibly flinch.

_Dude, she is mad_, Kid said, _I'd clear up whatever you're doing and listen to her_.

_Fine, on my way_, Robin replied.

_We need to retreat. Kid clear a path_, Aqualad ordered.

We all sprinted to the doorway, including Robin who had come out of nowhere seinging into sight on his grapple gun. We all went through the door and Superboy who was the last one through slammed the door closed. We continued sprinting because the door didn't hold against the large behemoth that I am assuming is the product of the new hybrid Venom. He slammed through the door and he and several cultists wielding machine guns. "Superboy, the support beams!" Aqualad yelled out as we all continued running. I heard two loud bangs followed by a loud sounds of the tunnel caving in. we all stopped when we heard it stop. I slumped against the wall and watched as Aqualad cracked a glow stick lighting up the cave with a dimmed red. All of us gathered in group facing each other while Robin faced away from the group and sat looking at a pile of rubble.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" he said in frustration.

"You do have many years of experience," Aqualad said calmly, "But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new and the leader must be clear, explicit. They cannot vanish and expect the others to play parts in an unknown plan."

"Oh! So I am supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Robin turned around and glared at us.

"No, but you have to let us know the plan so we have a fighting chance. Do you know we all could have died today, Robin?" I said quietly, "Kid, from running off to find you, Miss M from a spear bomb earlier, Aqualad if his shield hadn't held up, you, when you keep disappearing. Do you know what would happen to me if I lost, you, Robin, or Kid, or Aqualad, or Speedy, our now Superboy, and Miss M? For this team to work we need to function as one. We can't keep running off because we feel the need to prove ourselves. Robin, you are amazing we know that. We would probably have died at Cadmus if we didn't have you. You don't need to prove yourself to us or to Batman he already knows your amazing that's why you're his partner. But you're not ready, you are only thirteen, you still have a lot of maturing to do," I said ending with a smile and a hand on his shoulder.

He smiled back and turned to Aqualad, "Who am I kidding? You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can."

"Oh please! I can run in circles—" Kid started in but Robin cut him off.

"Oh come on, Wally, You know he's the one. We all do."

"Hello Megan! It's so obvious," Miss Martian said excitedly and turned with her hands on her hips to face Aqualad.

"Could've told ya." Superboy said with a smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest.

I looked at Kid and he caught my glare, "Okay! Okay!" he said.

Aqualad walked over to Robin and I moved as his hand replaced min on the Boy Wonder's shoulder. "Then I accept the burden. Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders."

"What about, Raven?" Superboy asked.

"Yeah," Miss Martian agreed, "I thought that she had the most experience out of all of us?"

"Blue Raven has already expressed that she does not want to be leader," he said to them and I nodded in agreement behind him, "However," and he turned around to face, "I would like to offer you the position of second in command," he said startling me.

"You're serious?" I asked astonished.

"Yeah, though your temper is a bit of issue," he said with a smile, "You show a lot more other qualities that out way that tenfold. You are probably the only one that can keep us all level headed and focused on the mission."

I perked an eyebrow and laughed, "You just want me to be the one yelling at the team," I said amused.

"Yes," he said with a smile.

"Then I accept," I said with a smile.

"Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving the island," Aqualad said addressing the whole team as we began walking.

"Funny, I had the same thought!" Robin said from beside me.

"And what about the factory? They can still have the capability to make new batches," I said, "And something puzzles me, how is Sportsmaster the buyer and seller. He has to be a middle man."

"Why do you say that?" Miss Martian asked.

"Well we suspect that the supplier of Blockbuster is also the owner of Cadmus or someone connected. That's the only way they could have gotten the formula for it. And owning Cadmus is most definitely not Sportsmaster's style."

"And neither Kobra or Sportsmaster have the chops to blend Blockbuster with Venom either," Kid said, "that took some major nerdage."

"I believe the term is the tip of the iceberg," Aqualad as he stopped in his tracks at the same time everyone else did. At the end the of the tunnel was Bane.

"Halt, ninos," he grinned, "I'm feeling explosive."

Convenient I would really like to blow this guy up too, I said through the mind link, do you see his hand?

Yes, Aqualad said mentally before physically talking. "You betrayed us? Why?" he asked sounding shocked._ Kid you need to start running._

"So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying," Bane droned on.

_Cute how he thinks we care about his undermining us_, I said mentally with a snort.

"Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect," Bane said as he pressed his thumb down…on air.

"With what?" kid said as he leaned against a tree behind Bane causing the later to turn around, "This trigger thingy?"

Bane began charging at Kid but then was hoisted in the air by Miss M and Superboy stepped forward and so did I.

"What do you think about us now, Nino?" I said triumphantly, "Oh wait I forgot, we don't care!" I turned and looked at Superboy who nodded at me with a grin. I stepped back and turned to Miss M, "Drop him," I said smiling.

"Finally," Superboy said as Bane began falling and landed right on his fist. Bane landed into a tree. I ran over and did a flip and landed my foot right on his groin, causing muscle spasms though still didn't wake him up.

"Let's see if you have any ninos now, asshole," I said and turned around to the group. The guys, except for Superboy flinching. "Hey, BC always says to deliver on your promises and I think we all saw he moved his foot a little too far to the right for my liking." That caused them to laugh and we made our way back to the factory.

We hid in the jungle near the helicopter landing where the deal was going down. We had devised a plan and now we were setting into play. Kid went first he put on his goggles and ran into the clearing knocking down as many goons as he could before they began shooting at him. Superboy then jumped from his place beside us landing right in the middle of the chaos facing the muscled creature that was a result of the Kobra Venom. Aqualad got in his place by the water tower.

"Go again?" Superboy asked that creature, who charged at him in response. Once he got in range, Aqualad blasted him with a stream of water knocking him back several feet. "Sorry not the plan." Superboy then began getting shot at by Sportsmaster which was not even doing any damage but was causing a great distraction for Miss Martian to put the bombs in place. I stayed hidden as well as Robin waiting for our chances. Mine came when Sportsmater spotted Miss Martian in her cloaked form and knocked her down to the ground, putting her in a head lock. He made his way walking backwards onto the helicopter holding Miss Martian in this arm and shooting at Superboy with a gun in his other hand.

I snuck out from my place behind a crate and stuck my hands around his neck and began digging my nails in his neck. "What the—" Sportsmaster started but then Miss M swung her head back stunning him and getting out of his grip. Giving me the perfect opportunity to throw Sportsmaster into a couple of crates. He feel to the ground with a groan, "That's no way to treat a lady," I said and jumped off the helicopter. Just then the helicopter took off and he got up and ran inside. I looked at Miss M as she held up the detonator and pressed the button causing the helicopter above our heads to explode and fall out of the sky and right onto the factory. I vaguely saw a parachute fall into the jungle, giving me a distaste in my mouth that he survived.

I turned to see Kobra standing over Robin who was on the ground. Kobra placed his foot on Robin's chest and looked to all of us as he said, "I am plagued by mosquitoes."

"Good," Robin snapped, "Because this mosquito's mighty concerned about your pain!" then he flipped his legs in a circular action freeing himself and flipping backwards landing near us. Kobra narrowed his eyes and began vanishing into the darkness of the jungle, "Another time then."

"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin said turning to Aqualad after he checked the jungle where he had vanished. "Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at his statement, and turned to see Aqualad had slightly paled. I put a hand on his shoulder causing him to look at me, "Hey I got your back, Leader," I said causing him to smile.

A few days later we stood in a line, clad in our civilian clothes in front of Batman.

"A simple recon mission, observe and report," he snapped out the words out at Aqualad. Before walking down the line, "You will each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then…" I began mentally preparing myself, we are going to get disbanded and I was getting ready to argue. "Good job." I snapped my head to look at him as he stopped me going over a mentally prepared speech. Batman had relaxed when he turned to face us and I noticed he had a slight, very, very small smile. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character." He said as began walking away.

We all shared glances once he left the room. "Did he just inadvertently congratulate us for blowing up the factory?" I asked amused.

"I think so," Wally said with a small smile.

I smiled widely, "It's official," I said, "This is an actual team, we just finished our first mission."

That night we had a celebration of us, we ordered pizza, and had a TV and video game marathon. Which ended around three in the morning, causing it to turn into a sleepover. After calling our guardians and letting them know we all picked one of the twenty or so bedrooms and went to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

_**So hey everybody TLG19 here school is starting up for me and I've been writing like crazy. i have all the way to chapter 13 written and starting on chapter 14 today but instead of posting every couple of days ill post weekly now. Got a crazy schedule with 16 hours and work so ill try to be on time...and if i'm not so sorry in advanced. have a good weekend my fellow YJ leaguers and i hope you enjoy this chapter.**_

Several days later we were in the common room of the cave, by we, I mean Robin, M'gann, Kaldur, Kid, and myself. Superboy was off in Metropolis, and we were playing a mean tournament of air hockey until Black Canary got here for the first session of training. Aqualad and Kid were in the middle of a game and it was fascinating to watch for an Atlantian he was really good at the game beating me 10-2. However he was no match for Kid who in my opinion was cheating by using his speed and beat Kaldur 10-7.

_**Recognized Suberboy B05**_

Superboy exited the zeta tube and he was not happy as he charged towards us and threw the holographic table making it disappear. "Hello, Superboy," M'gann said dressed in her Miss M outfit, "How was Metropolis?"

He stomped on without an answer, "That's not good," I said as I made a move to go talk to him.

"Ready for training everyone?" said the strong feminine voice of my mentor. I turned to see her and Martian Manhunter.

"Black Canary. Uncle J'ohn!" M'gann said happily as she ran to give her uncle/ mentor a hug.

I merely looked at mine with a smile and nodded, which she returned. She wasn't the hugging type and neither was I, especially in hero mode.

"M'gann, I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd see how you were adjusting," the Martian man said placing his hands on his niece's shoulders.

"A few bumps, but I'm learning."

"That's all I can ask," he said with a smile.

Black Canary narrowed her eyes slightly and I turned to see Superboy trying to leave, "Stick around," she directed at him, "Class is in session."

Superboy turned, stopping in his tracks, and crossed his arms as my mentor stood in the center on the holographic floor that lite up. She gripped her jacket collar in her hands and stood confidently in front of us. "I consider it an honour to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you. everything I've learned from my own mentors. Urgh! And my own bruises," she winced through her teeth as she took off her jacket, revealing a bandage on her arm. My relaxed stance went to an immediate aleart stance.

"Are you alright?" I asked worried as I stepped around Kaldur.

She nodded, "I am fine just a couple cuts, they'll heal in a couple of days," she said staring at me. Her tone made me relax and I nodded in confirmation.

"What happened?" M'gann asked.

"The job," she said as she threw her jacket of the side of the room and placed her hands on her hips. "Now combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting never reacting. I'll need a sparring partner."

"Right here!" Kid called out as he eat the last of his banana, "After this…" he tossed the peel into a bin, "I'll show you my moves," he finished and waggled his eyebrows at her with a grin.

I snorted, "Yeah if you can get off the ground, with your dignity after," I said with an eyerool as I crossed my arms over my chest, "Pay attention this about to be good," I said to the group as my mentor smirked and lunged without warning. Kid managed to just barely block her hit with his arm thanks to his super speed but was not able to dodge the low roundabout kick that swpet him off his feet and crashed him to the floor with a loud thud. A small circle appeared on the holographic floor, "Kid Flash: FAIL."

"Ugh… it hurts so good…" kid muttered from his spot.

"Good Black," BC commented as she helped him get up, "But did anyone see what he did wrong?"

"Oh! Oh! He hit on the teacher and got served?" Robin said childishly bouncing up and down.

"Dude!" Kid yelled.

I laughed, "Carter!" BC said sternly. I stood straight immediately.

"He allowed you to dictate the terms of—" I began automatically but was cut off by Superboy.

"Oh please," he said which caused her to look at him with raised eyebrows. "With my powers the battle is always on my terms. I'm a living weapon and this is a waste of my time."

"Prove it," Canary smirked. Superboy and BC readied themselves into fighting stances.

He punched hard, but she blocked it before grabbing his arm. Using his forward momentum she flipped him across the circle. He landed on his back with a hard thud. "You're angry, good," she said with a nod, "But don't react. Channel that anger into—"

She stopped her advice as she had to dodge Superboy as he charged her again. She blocked him before flipping over his head. He turned to face her but ended up on the ground as she had crouched low and swept her leg under his feet.

Robin let out a laugh as BC reached down to help the still angry teenager up but he pushed her away.

"That's it," Superboy snarled, "I'm done!"

"Training is mandatory," she said as she attempted to stop him with a hand on his shoulder. He furiously shrugged it off and turned to glare at her.

I thought about possibly intervening, thinking it could get ugly, but the all-knowing Bat himself somehow picked the perfect time to appear on a holographic screen. "Batman to the cave. Five hours ago a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary," Another holographic screen appeared and I looked at my mentor giving her a concerned look, she nodded in confirmation He's alright. I nodded and turned back to the screen that was showing a clip of the League attacking a figure. "The attacker was capable of studying and duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."

"Whoa…" Kid said, "One guy with all the powers of the entire League?"

I got a knot in my stomach as I saw the video show Superman being spun around and hit his fellow Leaguers like a rag doll. "In the end it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."

"An android?" I asked confused. Thinking of the only guy with this trade mark and knowing for sure he was in prison.

"Who made it? T.O. Morrow?" Robin asked, both of us thinking about the same villain.

"Good guess, Robin, but no. Red Tornado doesn't think so," his mentor said.

"The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo," Martian Manhunter explained.

"Ivo?" Kaldur and I both asked in shock, "But Ivo's dead," Kaldur finished.

"Or so we thought or hoped," BC admitted grimly as Batman Nodded on the screen behind her.

"To make certain this threat is permently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the androirds parts to two separate STAR Lab facilities in boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone, tries to recover the remains. You will spilt into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

"Yes! Road trip!" Kid Flash hissed in excitement.

"So now we take out your trash?" Superboy growled at Batman.

"You had something better to do," Batman countered causing Superboy to scowl more and flood his arms.

"Cordinates received," Kaldur said as he looked down at a hand held he retrived from his belt. "On our way." He and the others sans me and Superboy ran to the hanger. I stayed behind to have a quick talk with my mentor.

BC caught Superboy by the shoulder, "When your ready, I'll be here," she said simply and then let him walk to to the others. She turned to me and I stepped up to her. "What is it, Car?"

I just walked up and gave her a hug which she gladly returned. Okay so I lied we are huggers when one of us gets hurt and worries the other, "Just needed a hug, I'm glad you're okay," I said as I let her go, "Tell Ollie I said the same."

She nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder, "I will, now go on your mission. I'll see you at home later."

I nodded, and began running towards the others, "Carter!" I stopped and turned to look at her. "Watch him," she said simply. I nodded and immediately knew who she was talking about.

We arrived at the starting point. Now all we had to do was wait as they finished loading the pieces onto the two of the six trucks in the field. Which was heavily observed by Batman, Green Arrow, Flash, Superman, and several other members. I was glad to see he looked alright as well. The six of us hid in the forest close to the field mounted on our bikes, dressed in our civies, and ready.

I saw Superman look over to us, once he saw his clone he quickly turned away. This caused a reaction in Superboy who turned cold and put his helmet on then gripped the handlebars of his bike. _Yeah, that is getting fixed as soon as possible_.

We got our signal from Batman and the rest of us put our helmets on. I turned to Kaldur, "See you later for that rematch."

"Agreed," he said amused.

The trucks began leaving and we began following in two lines with me and Aqualad at the lead. Once we hit the road we spilt off the first line, Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Kid Flash went to left, while the second line Robin, Superboy, and I went right following our truck.

It was several minutes of silence when Robin's voice appeared over the com, "If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong the go right," he said randomly.

I rolled my eyes underneath my sunglasses, "Boy Wonder, how do you not make your English teachers cringe with every sentence you say?"

I could see he shrugged on his bike from the corner of my eye, "It's a gift," he said and then after several moments of silence, "Superboy, clearly you aren't feeling the aster. What's wrong?"

"Canary," Superboy said with a anger, "I mean what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?"

"Because sometimes you won't be the strongest guy in the fight," I said, "BC takes down stronger guys all the time."

"Yeah, she learned that the hard way and so did Batman and well us," Robin said agreeing with me.

I speed up and was side by side with Superboy causing him to glance at me, "Look I know what it's like having all this power and anger at everyone inside, I still have days where I wake up from a nightmare angry at everyone even though they are not involved. But if I have learned anything, which I have, is that keeping all the angry thoughts inside is useless and holds back our potential. So when Superman is being an asshole let me know or any of us know, because frankly I can have a select few words about my mentor after a grounded session. You can talk to us that's what we are here for, to make each other better, and if that means us ranting on a League member for being a blind stubborn idiot then so be it." I said and then laughed, "Hell even Black Canary will listen to you, even she has some select words she uses for him right now."

That got me a small twinge of a smile. I turned back to look at Robin who was a couple yards behind us. "Shit!" I said causing the boys to look behind them as well. There were several dozen of them, green and black mechanical monkeys that flew out of their hiding places in the cornfields.

"_Blue Raven, Robin, Superboy! Our truck is under attack!"_Aqualad's voice said over the com.

"Kind figured," Robin replied.

"Ours is under attack as well," I said then put my bike on auto pilot. I let go of the handle bars and formed energy balls in my hands and fired them one right after another. I was able to take out three in a short time.

"I hate monkeys," Superboy growled.

"Robot monkeys!" Robin cackled, "Totally Ivo's tweak style."

Robin switched his bike to battle mode making it morph into a single wheeled cycle and have a hovering machine that shoots lasers. "Hey put you cycle on battle mood," he told Superboy.

"No need," he said as he jumped off his bike and onto the now swerving truck. His bike crashed into Robin's, who had attached himself to the back of the truck right before the two bike impacted. The boys worked on getting throwing off the monkey machines. It was going rather well until one of them shot Superboy in the eyes. He let out a noise of pain before four of the monkeys grabbed him by his arms and lifted him up into the air.

"Superboy!" I exclaimed as I started screehing to a halt on my bike and made a energy disk catching him and landing him on the side of me, "Are you okay?" I asked noting the burn marks around his eyes. He didn't answer me as he blinked his eyes several times and squinted at the now smaller truck before letting out a huff and closing his eyes. Before I could say or do anything he just leaped off after the truck.

I huffed and speed off after him to catch up. I caught up to the truck only to see Robin jump off with the driver and see the truck over turn with Superboy on top. The truck began flipping before finally landing several yards away from where I stopped. The back exploded and the little green machines flew out of the whole with the box containing the parts. "Great," I deadpanned. As I turned off my bike when I saw Robin climb out of the corn field with the driver. The truck over turned revealing a very angry Superboy who rubbed his eyes and without warning jumped after the flying pests.

"Superboy!" Robin and I both exclaimed but it was no use.

_"Aqualad to Raven and Robin. Lost out cargo, did you—"_Aqualad came over the som.

"It's gone," Robin replied.

"And so is Superboy," I said as I picked up of of the destroyed bodies of the green monkeys.

"_Aqualad to Superboy, radio your position. We'll help you."_

_ "Don't need help! Don't want any!"_ Superboy growled in response.

"Superboy," Aqualad and I both said.

"Pretty sure he ditched his com," Robin pointed out.

"_Super_," Kid Flash said sarcastically_, "Now we can't even track him_."

"_He's out of my telepathic range," _Miss Martian said worried, "_This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe we should contact Red Tornado?"_

Robin came up behind me and saw me examining it. We both shared a look and he plugged in his holo computer to the monkey.

"We'd have heard by know if the other trucks were attacked," I said looking at the wreackage, "They knew which trucks to attack."

"Yep," he said and then grinned at me triumphantly, "Hah! The parts have GPS!"

"Can the signal be back tracked?" I asked with a smile.

"Already working on it," he said, "Got it they are headed for….Gotham city?" he said as a question. I ran to my bike and revved the engine to life before clicking on my com. "You got that, Aqualad?"

_"That far south? M'gann and I won't get the anytime soon. I'm sending Kid ahead to meet you, Aqualad out_."

Robin called for his one wheeled cycle that seemed in drivable condition. Once he was on and had a spare helmet on we took off for his home turf.

We had just reached the Gotham City limits when Kid Flash meet up with us donned in his red and yellow outfit. "You changed to?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, I feel naked in civies, still tracking the parts?" he said while running beside us.

"Yeah, they were headed through Gotham but then they veered, now they are headed….towards my school," Robin said in shock then looked at me, "I mean Gotham Academy."

I raised my eyebrow at his really bad attempt at a cover up, "Whatever, Boy Wonder, secrets come with the mask. I don't particularly care that you go to school there, just graduate without making an English teacher faint at your butchered version of the language."

We pulled up to the school and could hear a lot of destruction going down. I turned to look at the boys, "Well we found Superboy," I said as I got off my bike and began running inside. Robin took lead and took us to the gym where we found Superboy on the ground befoee the unfortunately rebuilt android that had it back facing us. Kid ran and got Superboy out of the way just as the android slammed its fists into the ground. Robin threw a birdarang at him.

"**Access Martian Manhunter,"** and the android density shifted causing the flying projectile to fly right through him and explode on the wall.

"**Access Red Tornado,"** The android said in monotone animatronic voice as a red twister formed around the lower half of his body. It slammed into the boys but I was fortunately able to get out of the way on an energy disc.

I threw energy balls at him and saw they did no damage, "Access Captain Atom."

"Crap!" I said as I dodged an attack and fell of my energy disc and fell in the arms of Kid as he raced out of the way.

"Thanks," I said as he put me down.

"Welcome," he called out as he went to attack the android by running at him.

"Access Black Canary," and Kid was hit with a screech and flung on the floor.

I helped Kid get to his feet as Superboy and Robin attacked the android followed by Kid. The android had him in a tight grip as he had the strength of Superman. Then he accessed density shifting again as an arrow was shoot at him. I turned around to see a person with a green outfit and blonde hair vanish from sight on a neighboring building through on of the broken windows of the gym. I narrowed my eyes and slightly angered but quickly dissipated as I saw Kid and Robin dodge another Superman-like attack from the android.

"Oh yawn," a voice said arrogantly, I turned to see Professor ivo lounging on the gym bleachers with a couple of his android monkeys. "Normally Amazo would study and mimic your abilities in battle, but there's no point. You're all such poor imitations of the originals."

"So everyone keeps saying," Superboy said from his spot on the other side of the room, "IT MAKES ME ANGRY!" he yelled angrily as he lept across the gym and attempted to land on the no scared professor who jumped out of the way. "Want to see me channel that anger?"

I raised an eyebrow at that under my mask, and looked at the boys.

"Great now he's gone ballistic again," Kid said.

"Maybe not," Robin said and I turned to see Superboy going after the very scared little man.

"Amazon, Protect your master! Priority Alpha!" Ivo cried out.

Robin vanished into the shadows and appeared behind Ivo who he threw to the ground ans he tried to escape, "Anyone want to play keep away?"

"Oh! Oh! Me!" Kid said as he began running toward the man on the ground. He got knocked out of the way from the android slamming his foot on the ground and causing Kid to trip and fly into the bleachers.

I appeared next the the man, and lifted him up by his collar, "You're right we are cheap imitations, because we are originals in our own right," I said and threw him into the bleachers.

I was about to run over when I heard, "Help disassemble him! Now!" Robin called.

I turned and ran over to see the android without a head.

"Dude, the guy has no head," Kid said as he limped over while massaging his shoulder.

"Don't take any chances," Aqualad said as I turned to see and Miss M run through the doors.

"Superboy, are you alright?" Miss M said as she flew over and helped him stand.

"Fine," Superboy said with a smile and looked to Robin, "Feeling the aster."

"Hey! Where's Ivo?" Kid said curiously.

I turned and ran to the general area of where I threw him, he was gone, "He's gone, where are the monkeys?"

"Perimeter check, now!" Aqualad ordered but it was no use, he was gone.

Later that night the team and I stood in front of Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Red Tornado, and Martian Manhunter and debriefed them, mainly Aqualad and myself.

"The Amazon android is in pieces again. Safely being analysed at the two separate STAR Labs. But Ivo escaped, and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android," Aqualad said.

"Capturing the Professor will be League priority," Black Canary said and nodded in agreement.

"But we understand your mission encountered….other complications," Martian Manhunter said folding his arms.

Everyone in the team gave Superboy a look, as his head turned down to stare at the ground.

"Complication come with the job," Batman said stepping forward, "Your ability to handle them have impressed the League."

Superboy looked up, "The whole League?" he asked with a hopeful tone.

"Given time, yes, Kryptionian's as you know have very hard heads," the Leaguer said.

"In more ways than one," I muttered with a smile as I stepped up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course there's no shame in asking for help, that's why the League exists. Because there are some problems even we can't handle individually."

"Please," Robin said stepping forward with the arrow that saved Kid from becoming human play-doh. "If we needed help we'd never get the chance to ask. Look familiar?"

Batman took it from his hand and examined it closely.

"You were following us, babysitting! You still don't trust us!"

"We didn't follow you," Batman said calmly as he handed the arrow over to Green Arrow. He examined it before pulling another out of his quiver. The arrow tips were different.

"And that's not your arrow, but that means—"

"Speedy!" Kid Said excitiedly.

"He has our backs," Aqualad agreed before Kid sped over and took the arrow.

"Souvenir!"

All the while this went down I was having a silent conversation with my mentor and Green Arrow.

You aren't telling me something, I said with my gaze to both of them. GA looked away from my gaze.

You will find out soon, BC said with her relaxed glare.

You better, because we both know Roy prefers the same arrows as Oliver, and his feathers and shafts are red. I narrowed my eyes.

Before she could say anything Superboy approached her and cleared his throat. "I'm ready," he said.

"Good because I'm here," she said with a slight smile. She looked at me, "We will discuss it later."

I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest. I looked at Superboy, "Told you," I said with a small smile. "Now get to work I want to have an actual sparring partner."

"Hey what do you call me," Robin said insulted.

I looked over my shoulder and gave him a once over, "Warm up," I said teasing.

After BC and Superboy sparred along with the rest of the team for a couple of hours we went to our own homes for the night. Oliver, Dinah, and I had dinner take out from a Chinese restaurant. It was a nice comfortable silence we ate to for several minutes before my curiosity interrupted.

"So who are they?" I asked not taking my eyes off my food. They both stopped and looked at me, I looked up to meet their gazes. I looked at Oliver who held a more guilty expression, "I'm not an idiot, I saw them green outfit with blonde hair. Either you have a twin I don't know about or you and the League are hiding something."

Oliver looked down at his food, "We were going to wait to tell you along with the team once she was more trained," he said.

"So it's a girl?" I asked for confirmation, "Is she your new protégé?" I was met with silence. "Look, Roy made his own choices it is your job as a League member and a hero to train someone who has the same goals we do with similar talents. I understand that I would ask the same and will expect the same when I have learned any and everything you and Dinah have taught me. I want to meet her."

Oliver looked at me confusion and shock, "Are you sure?"

I rolled my eyes, "I am always sure, I wouldn't say otherwise. She is a prospective member of my team as well as a partner for when I patrol. Besides if I trust her, when you introduce her to the team the boys will be less likely to say anything if I can vouch for her."

"Okay you'll meet her tonight," he said.

"Don't tell her," I said causing another confused expression, "I want to see what you have taught her to see if she can make the cut." To this he and my mentor bot smirked.

Dawned in my black and blue leather and boots and complete with my mask I set out for patrol at midnight. It wasn't that hard to find her, Oliver told me the general area he had asked her to patrol and it only had a few good vantage points.

I observed how she operated for a few moments and found several errors in how she operated. She didn't hide in the shadows, she could be seen by the city lights and could be easily seen from the streets below. She held herself arrogantly with hands on her hips instead of on her weapons ready for an attack. I approached her quietly and noticed more. She had long blonde hair held back in a ponytail. Her outfit allowed for optimum movement of her upper body. A sleeveless crop top and tight fitted pants showed off her toned body and connected to a matching green mask that cover all of her face but her eyes, mouth and nose. Fingerless gloves were on both her hands and covered her forearms and were paired with green combat boots. Upon closer inspection I saw her bow was more modernized than what the boys used.

I attacked silently as I pulled one of her arms from her hips and flung her over my body and on the ground. She hit the roof with a hard thud. I jumped away and grabbed her bow away from her. "Rule number one," I said and I tested the strength of the string, "Always be aware of your surroundings."

"Who are you?" she said getting up and stood in a fighting stance.

I put her bow to sit against the bricked railing, "Blue Raven, protégé of Black Canary and tonight your teacher."

"I have Green Arrow, he is enough," she said.

"Yeah, but since they are partners we will be seeing a lot of each other and will most defiantly be working together in the future. Get used to seeing this pretty face now," I said with a smirk, "Do you know how long I have been here?"

"I don't know or care," she said then launched herself at me. I easily dodged and whipped around grabbed her arm and brought it behind her back.

"Too bad it's your job, too," I said. Then she did something unexpected, she got out of my hold. She swung herself around tried to lay a blow to my head but missed. She flipped away from me and within seconds grabbed her bow, an arrow from her quiver, and had and arrow aimed at me.

"Rule number two," she said with a smirk, "Never underestimate your opponent."

I smiled back at her, "I think I'm going to like you."

She lowered her bow and arrow and gave me genuine smile, "Thirty-seven minutes."

"Yeah, definitely going to like you."

Just then we both turned to a sound, a woman crying for help and something about her purse. We both looked at each other and nodded then launched into action. Let's just say that mugger had terrible luck that night.


	9. Chapter 9

**_So i know i am posting kind of early but a momentous occasion has occurred and has left me feeling generous. my third nephew and first godson was born Tuesday and i am a very happy Auntie/Nanny(godmother)! Sooo here's CHAPTER 9 and you know the drill put your thoughts in the the little box down below!_**

Today was going to be a good day. Today we were going to the beach for team bonding, minus Wally who sadly was in Central City for his first day of school. Then later the team would get to meet Oliver's new protégé and my new friend, Artemis. After that night we hit it off and in between her training and patrols we had actually hung out in Star City dawned our civies.

I lounged on a beach towel taking in the sun while the others splashed around in the water. I was dressed in simple swimwear a surfers t-shirt and a simple purple bikini underneath. I looked at M'gann who was in a cute yellow bikini and frowned. I still had several scars on my torso from work and from when I was younger and still had never told the boys. Knowing me I probably never will so I was comfortable and just lounged. Smiling when I heard my friend's play in the water.

"Carter, join us in the water it's fun," M'gann called from the water.

"I'll go in a little bit, M'gann," I yelled to her from my spot.

Apparently none of them liked that answer because before I could react Superboy was out of the water and at my side with one jump and then with me in his arms back in the water in another before I could protest.

"Superbo—" I tried but he tossed me a couple feet away into open water.

I reached the surface I threw my hair out of my face and wiped my face free of water. First thing I was a smirking Superboy. "You think this is funny?" I asked in mock anger.

"Yes," he said with a laugh.

"Good," I said and they I wrapped an energy shield around him and lifted him out of the water. "My turn," I said devilishly and I tossed him a good hundred yards into the water.

I laughed as I saw him appear above sea level and look angry but then laugh as well as he began swimming back. I smiled and with a sigh I laid back in the water and began wadding in the water. "I could get used to this," I said aloud.

"Agreed," a male voice said. I turned to see Kaldur in a similar form to mine as he gave me a small smile.

I smiled at him in response and turned my head to look up at the sky. "Kaldur, what is Atlantis like?" I asked him curiously.

"It is very different from the cities you have on land," he said slowly trying to find his choice of words. "It is also much smaller than your country."

"Yeah I have seen in on maps once or twice," I said as I flipped over on to my stomach and swam over to him, "But what about the smaller details? The architecture of the buildings, the culture—"

"Why are you so curious, Carter?" he asked amused as he shifted his body into a vertical position.

I shrugged, "I don't know, I've never been there and probably never will be with the increased pressure. I've been to the majority of countries and I don't know I guess it's a part of my bucket list to go to all the countries."

A look of confusion formed on his face, "Bucket list?"

"Yeah, it's a list of things you want to do or have accomplished before you die," I said, "It's derived from the phrase 'to kick the bucket'."

"That is a very odd phrase," he said with a smile.

I shrugged, "Humans are very odd," I said with smile, "Do you expect anything less?"

Before he could say anything more M'gann called to us from the beach telling us the hot dogs were ready. We stayed on the beach for a couple more hours before Batman called us from the cave. Now here we were showered and in our hero clothes standing before Batman and Red Tornado.

_**Recognized Green Arrow 08, Artemis B08**_

Green Arrow approached the team with Artemis at his side. He cleared his throat and addressed us, "Team, I would like to introduce you to Artemis, your new teammate."

Aqualad, after a couple of moments, stepped forward with his hand out, "I'm Aqualad, the team's leader."

Artemis stepped forward and gripped his hand and shook it firmly, "Nice to meet you."

Aqualad glanced back at me and I stepped forward, "Second in command or I guess you know that already right, Arty?"

"Hi Carter," she said with a smile. "Or I guess Blue Raven."

I rolled my eyes underneath my mask, "Come meet your teammates, Newbie."

Everyone introduced themselves to her and shook hands. Once that was done she turned to me with a slightly confused expression, "I thought you said there was six you?"

"Kid Flash is on his wa—"

_**Recongized Kid Flash B03**_

Wally walked, or well tumbled, out of the zeta tube in a red and yellow pair of swim trunks and his arms full of beach gear. "The Wall Man is here! Let's get this party start—" he cut himself off by tripping causing everything to fall out of his hands and a beach ball to fly at Batman. "ted."

"Wall man huh?" Artemis said from my side, "Oh I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?"

"Uh who's this?" he asked us as he stood up.

"Artemis, your new teammate," she said, smug.

"Kid Flash, never heard of you," he said back in the same tone causing a frown to form on Artemis's face.

"She's my new protégé," Green arrow said as he stepped forward and place a hand on Artemis's shoulder.

"What happened to your old one," Wally exclaimed.

_**Recognized SpeedyB05**_

_** "**_Well for starters he doesn't go by Speedy anymore," Roy said as he walked towards us, "Call me Red Arrow."

I walked up to him and gave him a hug, which he returned. I released him from my hold and with a big smile on my face I polity slapped him on the side of his head. "Ouch! What was the for?"

"For not returning my calls," I said with a frown, and then I slapped the other side, "And that's for going MIA for three weeks, Idiot."

"Yeah I deserve that," he said angrily.

"You're lucky I don't taze you right now," I snarled.

"Roy," Green Arrow said in shock, "you look—"

"Replaceable," Roy, Red Arrow, snapped while glaring at his old mentor.

"It's not like that," Green Arrow said while shaking his head, "You told me you were going solo."

"So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?" Red Arrow sneered glaring at Artemis.

She stepped forward and folded her arms, "Yes, _she_ can."

"WHO ARE YOU?" Wally cried out.

"I'm his/she's my niece," said both green archers respectfully.

"Another niece?" Robin questioned.

"But she's not your replacement," Aqualad said calmly, "We always wanted you on the team and we have no quota on archers."

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick," Wally added glaring at Artemis.

"Whatever, Baywatch, I'm here to stay!"

"Enough, the two of you," I snapped directing both their attentions to me, "Kid Flash, she is here deal with it! Roy chose and still chooses to not be on the team of his own. Just because of the circumstances of her being another protégé of Green Arrows' does not mean she is in any way Roy's replacement but a hero in training in her own right. Any animosity towards her ends, NOW!" I said sternly to him and then turned to Artemis, "And you, just because you are my friend does not mean special privileges, we are a team and right now you listen and learn, no back talk."

Then I whirled around and pointed a finger at Roy, "And _you_! It was your choice to leave and go solo. Just because you are a wonderful archer and feel self-entitled does not mean Green Arrow should not have the right to train yet another wonderful archer, it is his duty as a League member and a teacher to do so. So you're right to have any sort of opinion on the matter is non-existent unless you plan on helping her with training or working with her otherwise. Is that understood?" he looked at me with an angry glare. I cleared my throat, "I'm sorry, I thought you were grown up now? Last time I checked adults actually answered and accepted the fact when they have been called out for their idiocy, or are you still not mature enough for that Roy?"

He still didn't answer and we both apparently decided to have a glaring contest. While this occurred Aqualad stepped forward beside me an addressed Red Arrow, "You came to us for a reason," Aqualad stated calmly.

Red Arrow looked away from me and looked at his old friend, "Yeah a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette." _Oh now he answers!_

The name resonated with Robin as made a sound, I turned to see him typing on his holo computer and saw several screens appear. "Nano-robotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City. Vanished two weeks ago."

"Abducted two weeks ago," Red Arrow corrected, "By the League of Shadows."

"Whoa! You want us to rescue her from the shadows?" Robin asked excitedly.

"Hardcore!" Wally exclaimed agreeing and the two fist bumped.

"I already rescued her," Red arrow stated walking over and pulled up another hologram, "Only one problem. The shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it the FOG, comprised of millions of microscopic robots. Nano-tech infiltrators. Capable of disintegrating anything in their path. Concrete, steel, flesh, bone…..but its true purpose isn't mere destruction, its theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system and delivers the stolen Intel to the Shadows."

"That could provide them access to weapons, strategic defenses, cutting edge science and tech," I said, observing the clips of the small bug looking creatures, "They can have anything they want within seconds."

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power brooking, yeah"Artemis said with an eye roll, "Sounds like the Shadows."

"Like you know anything about the Shadows," Wally pouted, Artemis in response smirked, "WHO ARE YOU?" he snapped.

I came up behind him and slapped him upside the head, he turned to protest and I glared so hard I even made Robin wince behind him. "Enough," I said sternly causing him to jump and look anywhere but my eyes.

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the FOG inert," Red Arrow said from his spot un-phased by the scene before him.

"But if the Shadows know she can do that—" Robin started.

"They will target her," I finished. I looked towards Red Arrow and crossed my arms over my chest, "Where is she at?"

"I stashed her in the local high school's computer lab," Red Arrow said.

"You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked shocked.

"She's safe for now," Red said calmly.

"He's right," I agreed, "They would never think of that location."

"Then let's you and I keep her that way," Green Arrow said reaching for his former protégé who stepped away glaring.

"You and I? Don't you wanna take your new protégé?"

Batman intervened before another word could be said and grabbed his fellow League member by the shoulder. "You brought this to the Team, it's their mission," Green Arrow said with a sigh, "Which means it's hers too."

"Then my job's done." Red said and walked towards the zeta tubes.

"Answer my calls!" I snapped as he stopped in front of the tubes.

"No promises," He snapped back.

_**Recognized Speedy-**_

"That's Red Arrow B Zero Five Update."

After getting specs of the school and a protection plan in order, we set off to Happy Harbour High School to guard the doctor as she created her program at one of the computers. Aqualad stood at the door glancing out the window. I stood out to the way of the windows and watched the outside grounds. Artemis, Robin, and Kid Flash were stationed inside the room close the Dr. Roquette who was busy typing away. Miss Martian along with her camouflaged bio-ship were stationed on the roof. Superboy was covertly, I hope, watching the perimeter.

_Everyone online?_ Miss Martian's voice asked in all our heads.

_Ugh! This is weird. _Artemis said looking at me, I gave her a shrug.

_And distracting. _ Dr. Roquette said glaring at the computer screen in front of her. _Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddy computer with less RAM than a wrist watch is hard enough. Now I have to hear teens think in my skull?_

_Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you? _Kid Flash said as he had another bite of his chocolate bar.

_Pot! Kettle!Have you met? _Artemis said glaring at him.

_Hey Hey! I do NOT need attitude from the Newbie who drove Red Arrow from the Team._

Artemis jumped off the desk she was sitting on. _That is so not on me!_

_ FATE OF THE WORLD AT STAKE! _The doctor shouted in her head.

_ She started it! _Wally said childishly.

_And I will finish it by asking BC for extra practice drills for the two of you if you don't can it and let the doctor do her job! _I said sternly. _Artemis go help Miss Martian and Superboy with perimeter patrols._

_ Good idea. _Aqualad agreed.

I turned and gave her a look _Behave._

She sighed and nodded and walked out of the room. Wally looking proud of himself got himself a well-deserved slap in the back of the head. _You too. _

_ You might want to cut her some slack. It was HER arrow that saved your but against Amazo. _Robin said with a sigh.

_What? _Kid said choking slightly on a bite of his bar. _No that was Speedy-I mean Red Arrow's arrow right? _He turned to me.

I shook my head. _Red prefers the same arrows as well as the modified arrows Green prefers. They aerodynamically work best with his technic of shooting. Plus especially after that whole leaving thing do you really think he'd use green colored arrows?_

_ Yeah. That makes sense, _he said with a sigh. _Still not giving her the satisfaction._

_ You know I can still hear you! _Artemis's voice rang through the link.

"Argh!" Kid cried out aloud in frustration clutching his head.

_I couldn't get the Justice League, _Roquette said pinching her nose.

Aqualad stepped up behind her, _The virus won't be of much use if we cannot find the weapon. Con you track it?_

_ My Utility FOG is not a weapon. It's science. Brilliant science and of course I can track it. But I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and "assassinate me" in neon._

Aqualad reassuring her put a hand on her shoulder, _We will protect you. _

With a sigh she pressed a couple of keys, _Tracking FOG now._

_ Be on your guard everyone, _I warned, _things may get much more interesting. Miss M, Superboy, Artemis, alert us of anything suspicious. If a leaf moves in an odd direction I want to know about it._

_ Got it, _Superboy said, his first time specking since the mind link was opened.

I turned back and stared out the window. "Kid, try to lay off of Artemis," I said quietly out loud. "She is good and shows wonderful promise, I've been helping with her training for the past week and I recommended she was ready for the Team."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Kid asked as he walked closer.

"Because it is the League's final say that goes and I didn't want to make the preparations when there would have been no need, I found out she was being introduced this morning. I discussed it with Aqualad a few days ago and he agreed with my way of going about it," I said simply and I turned to look at him, "She will never replace Red because there is no need to, she is her own person and just because she is an archer as well doesn't mean you should treat her as you are. Red will never join the team unless he has his own agenda, you might as well realize this now." He looked at me with a small bit of sadness in his eyes before he nodded. I turned back to the windows.

_Mmmm….that boy, _Artemis said through the mind link moments later.

_He can hear you! We can all hear you! _Miss Martian exclaimed angrily.

_Oh I know, _Artemis said, I could hear her smirking.

_Artemis, you can play later, eyes on the trees. _I said sternly.

_Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the FOG. Reconfigure the Bio-ship so the Blue Raven, Robin, and Superboy can pursue._

I turned around and walked over to him, "Are you sure you can handle the Young, the Restless, and the Delusional?"

"I'm sure it will be easier for them to stay on task if they are not all distracted with each other," he answered with a small smile.

I nodded with a small smile, "Alright, I'll keep you posted," I said and headed toward the door where Robin was waiting for me, "Oh," I said looking over my shoulder, "and stay safe."

"I'll try."

We exited the school and ran into the girls and Superboy. Robin and the latter went ahead into the bio-ship. I looked at both girls, "Be good and focus, the Shadows are on their way and you all need to be attentive."

They both nodded and I made my way to the bio-ship. I took the helm of the ship as I had gotten the most flight time behind Miss M.

"Uh…Raven," Superboy said from his spot.

"Yes?"

"Why was Artemis looking at me like that?" he said with a confused tone.

I let out a laugh and smiled, "She was checking you out, Superboy, take it as a compliment and a confirmation that you are handsome."

"Checking me out?"

"She was admiring your physical features that she finds appeasing for a mate its apart of human nature, both males and females do it. You may find yourself doing it to a certain someone," I said ending suggestively with a smirk.

He turned back around in his chair but not before I saw a little bit more color get added to his cheek.

"Hey, Raven," Robin said turning around in seat with a smirk of his own, "What was that back there with Aqualad?"

I tried to keep my face as emotionally unavailable as possible and looked down at the screen in front of me to see that we stayed on course. "I have no idea what you are talking about?"

He snorted, "Really?" he asked and his voice morphed it's a mocking female voice "'Oh, and stay safe, Aqualad.'" He said quoting me before reverting back to his normal voice, "What was that about?"

"It was not specifically directed at Aqualad, now get ready out ETA is five minutes," I snapped. The city of Philadelphia came into view and we began to attempt to locate the next target. It came into view as we traveled closer to the center of the city. I stood up from my spot as I watched a building crumble to the ground. "We're too late."

"Robin to Aqualad. We're over Philadelphia," the Boy Wonder's voice rang through the ship's silence and over our coms, "We've located the Shadow's next target STAR labs. We're too late. It's destroyed, totally destroyed. The FOG decimated it."

"This is bad," I said as the building finally settled into rubble, "STAR labs was working on a lot of cutting edge science projects, now they're all in the hands of the Shadows."

"What's out next move?" Robin asked.

"_Re-scan for the FOG, find it! We're moving the doctor," He said sternly. _

_ "_There was an attack," I stated, "How bad?"

"One attacker, female, she was overwhelmed by our numbers and left," he said.

"She's going to attack again with back up, be careful," I said then looked at Robin to see him smirking, "All of you, Blue Raven out."

"Almost did it again, "Robin sang as he typed away on the screen in front of him.

"Can it, Boy Blunder, and find next location," I snapped at him.

"Got it," he said, "The next targets a Wayne Tech facility. In theory, it's system's software could be used to hack the—"

"The what?" Superboy said when Robin cut off.

"Doesn't matter," Robin muttered, "What matters is Wayne Tech operates a twenty four workplace. We'll never evacuate the building in time."

"Hmm, then you've never seen me drive, Boy Wonder," I said as the map popped up on my screen. "Buckle up, this will be eventful."

The Wayne Tech was located two cities over and we got there in minutes. "Here," I said as I unbuckled myself and opened a hole in the floor.

"Roquette finished the program it's downloading now," Robin said as he walked over towards the hole.

"Don't need it!" Superboy said and then jumped out of the bio-ship.

"Robin, go and begin the evacuation of the building and protect that data. I'll go find Superboy and help with crowd control."

"On it, NO!"

"Crap!" I exclaimed as I saw a black fog appear and go towards the building.

"They've set the FOG loose."

"Go now," I said as formed an energy disc. i contacted the local officials and more or less ordered them to come for crowd control and evacuation. there were three police cars on scene in minutes with ten more arriving minutes after. He jumped on and I sent him down to the front entrance of the building. "Superboy, do you need assistance?"

"No," he said, "just a new shirt."

"Robin, do you need any help?"

"No found a computer, people evacuating almost, DONE!" he said, "Target neutralized."

As he said that the fog that was surrounding the outside of the building turned red and fell to the ground. "Blue Raven to Aqualad, target is neutralized. En route to Happy Harbour in ten."

"Good, Dr. Roquette is still safe and two Shadow operatives are restrained, the female got away, unfortunately," he said.

"Mission still accomplished, the League will be proud, good job everyone. I hope you are friendly over there," I said with a smile as Superboy jumped into the ship and I tossed him a spare shirt he had on the ship. Robin flung himself in shortly after with his grapple gun. "Boys are back, we are on our way."

"Alright, Aqualad out."

"Come on, Boys, strap in, we are going home."


	10. Chapter 10

_**Okay guys so here is what you guys have all been asking for. This is the background chapter to Carter. This chapter down below explains ALMOST everything.**_

_** ENJOY!**_

Today marks eight years since they have been gone. It was unseasonably cold for it still being summer. It was windy and an overall gloomy day when I woke up this morning in Star City. I got dressed in a pair of jeans, my usual combat boots, and a t-shirt and grabbed a jacket and headed for the nearest zeta tube. Gotham City was just the same, I zipped my jacket up and shoved my hands in my pockets and walked the nearby toy store on the way to my final destination, Gotham City Cemetery. Their stones were dirty, I dusted them all off the best that I could with my hands and then sat down in front of them.

**Johanna Callahan Loving Mother and Dear Friend January 12, 1976-August 28, 2004**

**Jackson Callahan Beloved Son, Amazing Brother December 2, 1994-August 28, 2004**

**Cassidy Callahan Beloved Daughter, Amazing Sister August 28, 2000-August 28, 2004**

"Hi, you guys, it's um, been a while," I said with a sad smile, "I'm sorry about that. I should be better about visiting but it's hard with all these things now." I turned to the smaller stone. "Happy birthday, Cassie, I um got you something. I know it's kind of kiddie, you'd be twelve today, but I guess its tradition now," I said as I took out the pink stuffed monkey and placed it in the same place I always do. "I hope you like it, it looks just like, Munk, you would never go anywhere without that thing." I turned to the grave in front of me, "Hi mom," I said my voice cracking, "I miss you. There's so much that you're missing and I know right now you are raising hell somewhere. I'm on a team now, I don't know if you have been watching lately or not. It with some of the other protégés and it's great. We get to go on missions and I get to beat up bad guys. I went on one yesterday, though it didn't got that well. He was basically a giant disgusting play-doh monster, he was hard to hit. I'm getting better at my powers too. They still glitch sometimes or I guess that might be me doing that, I don't know but we are working on it. I'm not scared to use them anymore which is an improvement I guess but it still makes me think about what those people did to me." I shivered at the images, "I'm a co-leader, Mom, second-in-command. You always said I'd be good at bossing people around and you're right I'm good at it."

I turned to the right end stone, "Hi Jackie, I wish you were here. The guys they would have liked to meet you. You and Roy would have probably got along best. He's just like you still, looks just like you. Though I can't tell if that's just because of the red hair and overall teenage angst. It's gotten a lot easier seeing him now, I see him as Roy now, not as another, well, you."

I breathed out and wiped my hands underneath my eyes wiping away the tears. "Guess crying my eyes out is another tradition too."

"I'm doing well in school, Mom, I hope I'm making you proud. My professor is thinking of writing me a recommendation for this program. If they accept me I can go study in Europe for a year, work in all kinds of labs with fancy microscopes, I won't bore you with the details. You were never a science person."

I tried to remember faint memories of her teaching me to finger paint on a little easel she got me for my sixth birthday. "Mom, I'm scared," I said my voice cracking again, "I'm starting to forget. I can't remember your laugh anymore. I barely remember how your hugs felt. Your goodnight kisses. Your perfume's smell. It's all gone. My memories are going away. Being replaced by everything after, well, you know."

"I…I don't want to forget….cause that means you're really gone and you can't be. You're my rock."

"I met someone, or at least I think I did, I don't know. You know I only have three main feelings angry, neutral, and awkward. But I don't know, I mean you're not here to tell me what liking a guy feels like. I mean I guess you'd ask me how I feel when I'm with him." I paused, "It's a rush of emotions, happy, nervous, excited….scared." I let out a huff, "He's breaking down the walls, Mom, and it scares me. It's like he's just taking his magical water hammers and just knocking them down like they're paper. What am I going to do when he finally knocks down that last wall? How do I know if he even feels the same way? Why can't Cupid just send me a text message and tell me? How do I even bring it up? I mean, Mom, I work with the guy. We lead the team together I guess, it's working. And then he likes someone from his, er, home country, he went to go see her a couple of days ago. I haven't been at the cave to see how that worked out, I'm kind of scared to find out."

I turned to right end stone again, "I bet you are loving this aren't you? Seeing me squirm over just the thought of a guy liking me. You're probably laughing at how I am actually acting like a girl. Either that or you're threatening to go find the guy and either beat him up to make him date me or just for the fun of it."

I turned to the left end stone, "I bet you'd be loving this too, teasing me with the middle school rhymes. K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a tree, I would never hear the end of it."

I laughed and closed my eyes as the wind blew in my face. "I had a nightmare again, about the night they kid napped me. It wasn't as bad as it usually is, as the other one usually is. I'll probably have that one tonight, another part of tradition."

"I wonder if one day they'll go away, I know it's not going to happen. Those kind of wishes never come true."

I sat there for several moments in my thoughts trying to think of anything I was forgetting. My thoughts took over from there and brought my mind back to early June of 2004.

I was just eight at the time, a couple weeks after my birthday. It was hot in our little small three bedroom apartment. The summer heat of Gotham City didn't let up, but our building's air conditioner did, causing all our windows to be cracked several inches and fans trying to cool down the apartment until the mechanic could come in the morning. I didn't even hear them come in. I hand wrapped around my torso and another covered my mouth muffling my screams. But it was no use, the fumes of the rag had knocked my small body out in seconds and they easily carried me out the window onto the fire escape, leaving my sleeping four year old sister on her bed.

I woke up in a cage, it was made of solid concrete walls on all sides. I looked in the corners to see cameras watching me. The room only had one door and one window which was barred. The only furniture was an iron bed with a thin plastic mattress. The only other things in the room was a toilet and small sink in the corner. I sat on the bed with my back against the wall hugging my legs. I don't know how long I stayed like that willing myself to wake up in my own bed, I didn't wake up. It was dawn when they came in. to male nurses and a female came in with scrubs and surgical masks on covering their faces. The men came and grabbed me, I fought, they won, and held me down as the female came over and gave me with six different shots. They left when she was done. A little trap door opened at the bottom and a tray was slid through. I didn't eat it.

This happened three more times that day each time a tray of the same food appeared and I didn't eat it until my hunger finally won. This became a ritual five times a day with three meal and two snacks offered. This occurred for a week, then the next morning the men grabbed me instead of holding me down. I was brought out the door and down a hall way to a surgical suite. Doctors and more nurses stood around me as the two men dropped me on the bed in the middle of the room. They held me down then. The other nurses helped and brought out restraints.

I never learned their names or saw their faces. They'd always gag me to silence my screams as they shoved IV's in my arms. Then the burning began, they pumped the medicine into my body all different kinds all different colors, they all burned so it made no difference to me, I was still scared. They'd dress me in a pair of plain grey sweats and then bring me back the cage, or I guess prison is a better word, after every treatment. I'd try to stay awake but I think they gave me sedative after every treatment. I'd wake up and start the day the same.

This continued for a month, then they finally got what they wanted, a weapon. During one of my daily fights with the nurses, something impossible happened. As I fought them my hand landed on one of their faces, a blue orb shot out and was absorbed in his skin. He feel the floor, the other nurse and I stared at him shocked. The other man let me go and began to run down the hall yelling for help. I formed another one, shot him to, and ran. I had no idea where I was going but I ran faster than ever. Then the alarms sounded, and I found a staircase. I went up, I looked down and saw it got much darker as you went down. On the last level of the stairs was a door electronically locked, I placed my hand on the door and nothing happened. "No! No! Please work, please," I begged, I tried again and got nothing. I began banging both hands against the doors, still no progress. Then I heard a door slam against the wall several floors below, that scared me and with a yelp I shocked the door. With another push of my hands it flew open and I continued running. It lead to a hallway with one door at the other end, I ran down it and began hearing voices. I banged open the door and I lead to a lobby full of people, business men and women barely glanced at me as they talked with each other or on their mobile devices. I saw a set of glass doors that lead to street, I ran for them. I stood on the busy side walk and tried to find out where I was. The Washington monument stood proud in the distance and I thankfully had learned its location the year before in school.

I was able to find a police officer who was patrolling on foot, on the corner of the street a couple of blocks down. I told him my name and that I was taken from my home. Within an hour I was at a Washington D.C. FBI district office, eating food, and talking to a child psychologist. I discovered many things in that hour. The date was now August 21st and I had been missing for a little under two months. My mom had been on a hunt for me, my face was on the national news every night and she still did interviews with news stations in Gotham and Central city. I got to talk with her on the phone, I cried when I first heard her voice. She was on her way on a private plane paid for by my...hmm father. We stayed in the capital of our country for three days. The first day was spent in various doctors' offices, checking my physical and mental health. The second day FBI agents asked me questions, I told them what I could and tried to tell them what building I came out of. Unfortunately all their buildings look the same in the business district and it was a lost cause. I was able to go home on the third day and I got to see my siblings. They both cried when they saw me, I broke down to as I hugged them both. We cried a lot that night, it was nice to be home. I thought I was safe again, my mom had a security system put in and bars put on the windows.

They came in the middle of the night again, on Cassie's fourth birthday. The security system had been shut down and instead of taking me they took them. I woke up to muffled yelling and loud movements in the living room. I ran out of my room and screamed in horror at the scene before me. They were all tied up, gagged, and sat on their knees each one had a man dressed in all black with masks on standing behind them with a gun pointed at the back of their heads. The only other person in the room was a man that stood to the side.

"NO! Don't please I'll go back," I said frantically, "Please don't, leave them alone."

"I'm sorry, but not how this works. You were an investment, you left," The only man in the room who didn't have a gun pointed at my family, "Our job to make sure you understand how much you are worth, big money."

"Then kill me," I said, "I'm the one who ran away please take me."

"Hmmmm, no," he said and then looked to his comrades and said, "Kết thúc cuộc sống của họ (end their lives)."

They were gone within seconds, the triggers were pulled all simultaneously. Their bodies all feel and there was an eerie silence, a smoke filled the air and the four man vanished. I ran to their bodies and gagged at the sight of the amount of blood. I called for help and within ten minutes the apartment was flooded with the Gotham City police department. Their funeral was two weeks later, closed casket. I was put in foster care, which I left a day later. I was on the run for a year when the Justice League found me in Star City a little over a year later.

I opened my eyes and saw the sun was already looming over the skyline. I looked to the stones, "I think I need to get going, the Team is probably concerned that I haven't been there or checked in. I'll try to see you guys more often and if not I'll definitely be here for you birthday, Jackson." I said shaking my head. "I'll try to remember more, I love you guys, I don't want you to go." I stayed there for several more minutes and then stood up and walked away.

_**Recognized Blue Raven B04**_

I walked into the common room only to be meet with the rest of the Team and Batman. "Great timing, Car, just in time for debriefing," Kid Flash said from his spot.

"Actually, Blue Raven, will be sitting this one out," Batman said monotone.

"Why?" Robin asked as everyone looked at me alarmed.

"She has the night off—"

"I'm okay," I said softly before clearing my throat and speaking louder, "I'm fine, what's the mission." I stepped forward and took my glasses off and placed them on top of my head.

"Are you sure?" Batman asked again.

"Always," I said with a small smile, "I'll be better when I'm focused on a mission. Please continue."

He gave me a slight glare before continuing the debriefing. "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyian Desert. Spectral analysis reveal elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that sight. What landed there. Bialya is a rouge state ruled by Queen Bee and not a member of the League;s UN charter. All communication are subject to intersection. Maintain radio silence at all times. You'll land in Qurac on Bialya's border. Two clicks from the hot zone."

"Do you want us to observe the entire sector or just the specific location?" I asked.

"The specific location, if the information you find there leads to a nearby location, go, if not make no unnecessary risks," Batman said. "Blue Raven, how is your Bialyan?"

"Lijepo zašto pitaš ? (Beautifully, why do you ask?)"

"Because if you are caught by the Bialyian authorities, it's your job to talk your way out of it."

I smiled, "It won't come down to that, I assure you."

Batman simply nodded, "Debrief is finished, leave for Bialya by tonight."

We all nodded and he left the room via zeta tube.

_Recognized Batman 01 _

Everyone turned to me. "Well I'm going to change into hero gear," I said awkwardly.

"Of course, we'll….get the bio-ship ready," Aqualad said.

Then with a deep breath I turned on my heel and began walking towards the hallway. "Carter."

I turned to the sound of my name, "Yes, Kaldur?"

"Are you sure you are alright?" he asked concerned.

I rolled my eyes, "If I weren't I would have taken Batman's offer to stay here. Please your concern is welcomed but not necessary. I'm fine, really. I just had a…bad day and Canary must have told him."

He relented, "Alright, go get changed."

They were having a mental conversation about me. We were on the bio-ship halfway across the Atlantic Ocean and it was dead quiet on the aircraft. I could tell they were having a mental conversation because all though they were quiet their faces would change to various emotions.

"Alright ask what you want," I said as I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest.

"What? What are you talking about?" Kid Flash said in a higher pitched voice than normal. I raised an eyebrow.

"Going through puberty still, Wally? And you all know exactly what I am talking about. You were talking telepathically. Next time you are trying to have a mental conversation, look relaxed and try to have a poker face."

They all looked down at the ground, guilty, except for Artemis. "Yeah, we were talking about you. We were trying to figure out what's wrong with you."

"Nothing is wrong, I am fin—"

"You were crying before you got to the cave, Carter," Robin said bluntly, "You were anything but fine."

I closed my mouth and looked at the ground. "Today's just not a good day."

"Why?" Kid asked, "Did something happen—" he cut himself off, "It happened today didn't it?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod.

"What is it? Are you okay, Carter?" M'gann asked.

"I'm fine, M'gann, today is the anniversary of my family's murder," I said sadly. "It's been eight years today."

"Then why'd you come?" Superboy asked, "You should be home mourning."

"No, being stuck in a house and being constantly badgered by BC to talk to her would not have been a good idea. I'm okay really after eight years there isn't much else to do but live and survive," I said with a shrug, "Besides now I have Dinah, Oliver, Roy, other League members and you guys, you're my family. They'll always be a part of me but they wouldn't want me to dwell on the past."

M'gann put the bio-ship on auto piolet and came over and gave me a hug, "I am happy to call you my sister."

I laughed, "Thank you, M'gann, I am glad to call you mine as well."

I looked to all of them and saw they were all smiling, even Superboy had a small grin on his face. I turned to Aqualad and saw him staring at the scene with a small smile on his face as well but his eyes showed a different emotion that left me confused.


	11. Chapter 11

_**OKAY SO YEAH GUYS I AM POSTING TWO CHAPTERS THIS WEEK JUST IN CASE I AM MIA NEXT WEEK... IM SLAMED BACK TO BACK WITH TESTS AND DON'T LIKE TO DISAPPOINT YOU GUYS OPE YOU ENJOY.**_

"Ugh!" I said as the sun shined in my eyes and I put my arms over my head. I left my curtains open again and the sun was shining bright through. I tried to grab my comforter only the grab sand. I shot right up and shielded my eyes. I expected my bed room but was startled by the sight of a vast desert. I looked around and tried to stand only to let out a scream. I collapsed into the side of a large rock and looked at my leg to see bullet hole in my thigh. It wasn't healing, the tissues kept trying to repair but couldn't because of the metal. "I have to get it out," I thought out loud. "Maybe it's not that deep."

I took off my leather jacket and twisted it and shoved in my mouth. I ripped the hole in my pants leg more and with a deep breath slowly put my fingers into the wound. The jacket muffled my screams thankfully or it would have probably brought back the person or people that did this to me. I was thankfully able to get it out by grabbing it with my nails. As soon as it was out blood began gushing out. "Shit!" I cursed as I spit out my jacket. I hurried up and lifted my leg with another curse and tied my jacket around my leg like a tourniquet.

I relaxed against the rock as I say the blood flow slow and begin to clot. Then I turned and began taping on my wrist. The cuff was used for mainly for patrol. It scanned police scanners and tracked crimes where they took place and corresponded with my location. It'd did other stuff but I had no use for it, at least for this situation I hoped. I had it track my location and let out another curse, "Why the fuck am I in Bialiya?"

I tried to remember but I was a blank. I looked at the date on the cuff, September Fourth. "Where have the past six months gone? Why can't I remember?"

With a groan I was able to stand a put all my weight on my right leg, and surveyed my surroundings. There were several large rock formations a couple hundred yards away where I saw several caverns. "Shelter!" I said. And then I began hobbling towards it. I tripped several times on my way there. The first time I tripped over a rock hidden under the sand. The second time, I tripped over a gun hidden in the sand. It proved to be useful it still had a half full clip in with a strap. I put the safety on and swung it onto my back. I tripped and stumbled a couple of times and then I tripped for the last time to find a body. I army crawled over to it and turned him to his back, "AQUALAD!" I exclaimed as I recognized the boy I had helped with a team up between Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Aqualad against a villain who was attempting to poison the fish to stop for human consumption who was going to inadvertently poison the entire planets marine ecosystems and water source.

I checked for a pulse, it was faint. The phrase fish out of water popped into my head and instantly got me concerned. He needed water, fast. Or he could get seriously dehydrated, more so than what he is now. I checked the compartments of my pants and boots and found a canister of water. I put his head in my lap and tilted head and poured a little bit of it in his mouth, I waited a couple of minutes and there was no response. I looked up and squinted at the sun that was now high in the sky and looked back down. I needed to get him to the cave, the less sun and heat he got the better. I stood up on my own and I scratched my head as I looked down at the unconscious teen. "How am I supposed to get you to the cave when I can barely walk?"

He, of course, gave no answer. I thought about my powers and then I shivered at the thought. I haven't used them since I accidentally attacked Black Canary during a training session that went wrong. I stood in front of the sunlight and tried to keep him in as much shade as my short slender body could provide as I thought about how to move him. Just then I heard and explosion. I collapsed and covered Aqualad as I saw a couple of rocks fly off the rock formation I was aiming for and black smoke began to fill the sky. I heard several more loud noises. Then two airplanes came into view flying side by side and shooting at something on the ground. Then I saw them get slammed together some unknown force causing another explosion.

That's when I saw a large shadow came into view and crashed down just a couple hundred feet away, that something was a tank. Another smaller, human shaped shadow appeared and landed right on top of it. A shirtless and very angry teenage boy who in one fell swoop took of the entire top of the tank and threw it several yards behind him. That's when the jeeps came around the corner filled with soldiers holding machine guns. I took my very own off my back and got it ready just in case they spotted us and decided to get trigger happy. They began binding him by the arms with ropes which wasn't really working as the ten men that held onto his left arm fell with a single yank by the shirtless male. Then all of the sudden he was on the ground. I could faintly hear talking but unfortunately I wasn't close enough to have my brain automatically enhance the sound waves. They packed up the boy and took him away and left the same way they came. Hover on their way out several of the ropes that were previously restraining the teenager fell out of the back of the jeep in the rear of the line so their falling went unnoticed.

Once I was sure they were out of sight I went for them. I noticed my leg beginning to feel better, I mentally thanked myself for my brain automatically increasing my ability to heal ten-fold. I noticed I began walking better to, my left leg was now able to support some weight without screaming in pain. I grabbed the ropes and I wrapped them like a belt around my waist leaving my hands free for just in case I start to trip again. I got back to Aqualad in a little under ten minutes and began to tie the roped around him like a harness. Around his waist and chest and secured the other end by tying it around my waist. It was hard to drag the dead wait at first. Then thanks to the slanting of the land I was able to get him to a small cave in a little under twenty minutes. I untied us both and used the rope as a pillow to support his head as I gave him another drink of water and had a couple of sips myself.

The cave was still hot but without the sun's rays it was a lot cooler than what it was a couple of feet away. I laid back against the wall of the cave and put the gun in my lap ready for any trigger happy intruders. I fell asleep but woke up a couple of minutes later to Aqualad babbling in Atlantian. I could recognize a few words but other than that I just left him be. I checked his pulse and temperature and they had improved. I looked to the mouth of the cave and noticed the sun was setting. Now that we were settled, sheltered, and under stable conditions I lifted my hand to my ear to activate my com. "Shit!" it didn't worked I took it out and saw the circuitry was fried.

I looked down at the cuff and began to snoop through it to see if I could find anything useful. I had no idea what I was doing and changed the language to ancient Chinese. I sat back on the wall with a huff and rubbed my face with my hands, "We are officially screwed."

"Hello gorgeous," a male voice said from the mouth of the cave. In one move I was on my feet with the gun pointed at the intruder. I squinted my eyes and snorted, "Kid Flash? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Let me guess, six months of memory missing and out of all your supplies?" he said matter of fact-ly.

"I have some water left," I said with a huff, "I have been rationing it between the both of us. Please tell me you have an idea of why we are out here."

"As a matter of fact we do," he said as he stepped out of the cave.

I followed and questioned him, "Who the hell is 'we'? 'We' better have a plane and an air conditioner—" I stopped short to see there were three other faces one of which I knew, "Um hi Robin, mind explaining this whole situation?"

"Actually, I can help with that," the teenaged green girl said as she stepped forward, "Just let us explain and then I can get your memories back."

I looked at Robin and Kid Flash who both just shrugged, I turned back to her. "I'm listening."

So I got my memories back thankfully and received a hug from M'gann once I did. We went back into the cave and they say Aqualad on the ground babbling again.

"How long has he been like this?" Kid asked.

"He was unconscious when I found him, I woke up about nine this morning and found him around noon so at least ten hours or more. He's only had about three sips. He has improved if the babbling is any indication."

M'gann looked at him and tried to access his mind and he began muttering again. "I can't restore his memories in the condition."

"He needs immediate rehydration," Robin said, "Call the bio-ship."

"It's out of range, but Kid Flash could run him to it," she said turning to the mentioned speeder.

"Can't, he's too heavy and I'm low on fuel," he explained, "Right now I couldn't even carry Raven."

"Same otherwise I would do it," I said.

"Why not just levitate him back?" Artemis asked annoyed.

"I can't. I have to find Superboy. Six months ago, he didn't' exist. He has no memories, just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him," Miss Martian explained, panicked.

"Superboy is indestructible, just ask those tanks—" Kid started.

"But he is still vulnerable to certain things," I stated cutting him off. I looked at Miss M and took in her appearance. She wouldn't have able to concentrate with how anxious she was, "Give me and Robin the coordinates of the bio-ship, then go find Superboy, we will deal with taking Aqualad to the bio-shi—"

She began gripping her head and a look of pain crossed her face, "Superboy, he's in pain."

"Go, be careful because whatever did this to our memories could still be out there. Find him and call for back up if needed use the coms, if we are out of range."

"But Batman said—" Robin started.

"I know what he said and I will deal with him and explain the breaking of protocol was necessary," I said and turned to Miss Martian who was already floating in the air, "Go!"

I grabbed the rope and with the help of Artemis made a make-shirt hammock to carry Aqualad. His muttering became clearer as we trekked across the desert. He even began muttering the name Tula with sadness which made me curious about who she was. I made a mental note to ask him later when we were both back at the cave.

"Do you know what he is even saying?" Artemis asked me.

"Some words are familiar other times I am as clueless as you are, I didn't think the ask him to teach it to me," I said regretfully.

We were almost to the bio-ship when I began here engines. "Trucks are coming."

Robin looked at his holo map and directed us to a large rock that his us from their view. Aqualad began babbling loudly and Artemis began stroking his forehead, "Shh, Kaldur, quiet now," she said calmly, I noticed that her actions really irked me and made me question myself.

"How close are we to the bio-ship?" I asked Robin.

"Not far maybe another ten minutes," he said as we both watched a group of soldiers get out of the trucks and began scouting the area.

"Take care of them," I said and he vanished. I turned and looked at Aqualad who had quieted down looked peaceful. I pressed my forearm to his forehead to check his temperature and check his heart rate with the other on his neck as I tuned out the other two who were talking about some ninja Romeo and Juliet movie.

"So I'm your ninja boyfriend huh?" Kid said cockily.

"Hey amnesia remember. Completely forgot how truly annoying you are," Artemis said icily.

"Oh and like you're the goddess of congeniality," Kid said with a snort.

"Yeash! Get a room!" Robin said as he appeared by my side again.

"Dude, where were you?" Kid asked.

"Breaking radio silence," he said simply. In the distance I could hear his famous cackle before and explosion went off knocking out the soldiers, hopefully, and created a huge fog.

"Move out," I ordered as we began to walk quickly and didn't stop until we were on the bio-ship. "Robin get us a bed," I ordered as I ran to the back and grabbed an IV and a bag of fluids. Artemis and Kid got him on the bed and I hung the bag and got the fluid ready. Once no air was left in the tube I stuck it in his arm. I then grabbed a thermometer sticker and placed it on his forehead. I went to sit down on a chair as I watched the sticker change to indicate his normal temperature.

"Carter why do you have blood on your pants?" Artemis said as she stared at my leg.

"Oh yeah that," I said as I sat up and ripped the pant leg open more and noticed it was still a bright red, "Kid can you get me some antiseptic fluids, triple antibiotic, gauze, and medical tape."

He was back in seconds with the first aid kit that held what I asked for as he took a bite out of the candy bar in his hand. "What happened?"

"I got shot," I said with a shrug, "No biggy it is almost healed, should have been done but with the conditions and the _sand_," I said annoyed as I carefully wiped it off my leg.

"_Hey everybody!" _Miss Martian's voice said through the mind link, "_I've got Superboy! He's back to normal and we are on our way!_

I winced a little as my head began to throb, Kid say me wince as I bent down to wrap my leg and frowned. "Who are you?" Aqualad asked loudly, as he shot up and was first meet with Artemis.

"_Hello Megan! Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something."_

_ "Aw man, I did too. I didn't get a souvenir from the mission," _Kid said with a groan beside me. I looked up at him annoyed to which he replied with a sheepish grin.

"_Don't worry. I've got the souvenir thing covered,"_ Miss Martian assured him.

Oh she had it covered alright when she came into view with Superboy a giant shiny metal ball trailed right after them on the ground.

They both got to the bio-ship with the ball right behind them. I stared at it and opened my mouth and then closed it and gave the huge metal a good stare. "M'gann, um, what is that?" I said as I scratched my head.

"It's the reason we are here," she said with a smile, "At least I think. Queen Bee's scientist were experimenting on him. Superboy wants to keep it." she turned to look at the still shirtless teen right beside him and he smiled back at her.

I smiled, _Oh, something happened they are a thing!_

Superboy looked at me and with the look of a child, "Can I keep him?" he asked with a look of innocence.

I got up from my seat and walked over to the gigantic ball. I reached out to touch it but it rolled into my hand and gave a couple of noises. With a sigh and a small smile I turned it the couple, "It's up to the League, but I am okay with it. He could be our mascot."

We arrived at the cave at 3:30 A.M. eastern time and were meet with our worried mentors. Black Canary walked towards me as soon as I walked off the bio-ship and brought me into a hug. "Anata wa watashi ga shinpai shite ita," she said in Japanese. (You had me worried.)

"Ikutsu ka no izureka ga anata o anata no tsumasaki ni tamotsu hitsuyō ga arimasu," I replied back with a smile. (Someone has to keep you on your toes.)

She smiled at me and then kissed my forehead. I got out of her hug and laughed, "Oh you better watch out, Dinah, your mom jeans are beginning to show," I teased her, "It's kind of hard to scare villains when you chase them in your soccer mom van."

"I can still ground you," she said with false seriousness.

I looked at her and crossed my arms over my chest, "When am I_ not_ grounded? I'm still on probation from independence day."

She narrowed her eyes and cracked a smile. Green Arrow appeared behind her, "How ya doing kid? What happened to your leg?"

I gave him a glare as Black Canary began glaring at me, "What happened?" she ordered.

"Now this part's still kind of fuzzy," I said with my hands up in defense and then I began to scratch my head and look anywhere but her, "But I got shot."

"You got what—"

"Mom, I'm fine," I said alarmed and flashed my leg, "See bullets gone, there's no hole, and I can walk. I'm good, don't go 'Mommy' on me, okay?"

She let out a breath, "I'm good, I just, we didn't hear from you for a couple of days. Just go…go debrief Batman," she said as she walked to the zeta tubes, "I'll see you at home, no training."

"Got it!"

_Recognized Black Canary 10_

I looked at Green Arrow, "Seriously, you couldn't have asked later? You know how she gets!"

He held his hands up in defense, "I was worried."

"Worry when she isn't in the room please," I said annoyed, "Last time she was like this I couldn't go on patrol without her for a two weeks!"

"She wasn't that bad," He said high pitched.

"Liar, I could only beat up criminals my size you, you know how many that was? ZERO! Now go, go comfort her and make sure isn't making chicken noodle soup or something. It's like 3:30 in the morning make sure she is in bed."

"Going, I'm going," he said as he walked to the zeta tube.

_Recognized Green Arrow 09_

With a deep breath I turned around to see everyone staring. The rest of the League members were smirking, sans Batman and Red Tornado. The Team all looked confused at the scene they just witnessed. "What? You have your family dynamic, that's mine," I said as I walked forward, "Flash, stop smirking it's not funny."

"Yes it is," he said with a laugh, "Watch Dinah who can beat up anyone without a care, acting motherly to you is a sight that must be witnessed."

"I'll tell her that," I said with a smirk, "I hope she throws you at the wall again."

"Still worth it," he said with a smirk.

"He's right it was kind of funny," his nephew said from his spot.

"Don't encourage him," I said annoyed, "Or _I_ throw _you_ into a wall, and guess what you can't vibrate your atoms." That ended that conversation and we debriefed the League with what we could. They accepted that and told us if we remembered anything else regarding the mission to inform them. They gave us permission to keep the large metal ball, which Superboy proudly named Sphere. It was simple but it worked, you couldn't exactly name it Spot or Max. We were dismissed and we the majority of the team went home with their mentors. I stayed at the cave along with Kaldur, M'gann, and Superboy, since the last two live there. I went to my room and was out within minutes.

I woke up a couple of hours later, unfortunately, at about nine. I took a shower in our locker room type bathroom and went on the hunt for food. It wasn't that hard, the kitchen in the cave was fully stocked majority of the time and I made myself a quick simple breakfast, scrambled eggs, toast and a glass of milk, and sat at the bar. As I was finishing up, Kaldur walked in in his pajamas, a simple pair of pj pants and a muscle shirt.

"Morning," he greeted me, as he walked towards the fridge.

"Morning," I said back as I ate another bite of my eggs. There was silence after that as he made his own breakfast, similar to mine, and sat down next to me. I got up and began washing my plates and the stuff we both used to make our food.

Once finished I hand dried them and placed them in their proper places. Then I began wiping the already clean counter tops.

"Is everything alright, Carter?" he asked confused.

"Fine," I said in a higher pitched tone, I turned and grimaced, hoping he didn't notice the change.

He got up from his spot and I thought he would have went around the island to the sink, but he came on my side so when I turned to go wash the bar counter top we collided and he dropped his plate and glass. We both bent down to pick them up resulted in both our foreheads colliding. "Sorry." "Apologies." we said rubbing our foreheads. We both bent down again but this time I stopped and he picked up the dishes. "Are you sure, you are alright?"

"I'm fine," I said high pitched, I cleared my throat, "I'm fine, why would I not be, I'm perfectly okay."

"Okay," he said unconvinced.

"Well, I'm going to, yeah," I babbling and speed walked out of the kitchen. As soon as I was out of his sight I slapped myself in the forehead, "Nice going, Carter, you finally admit to yourself that you like a guy and you act like an idiot in front of him," I grumbled to myself as I made my way to our private beach, "Can I please be less awkward?"

That Monday I arrived at the cave at 6:40 A.M. I was meet Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter in the common area. I waved at them and made my way to the hanger were I figured Superboy would be. I was meet by the sight on Sphere rolling around the room and Superboy underneath a motorcycle on his back working on it.

"Morning, Superboy," I greeted him once I got within normal hearing range.

"Hi, Carter," he said not getting up from his spot.

"Ready for you first day of high school?" I asked with a smirk, I know exactly what he thought of it but he'd never voice it, not since a certain teenage Martian expressed her excitement when her uncle told them they'd be attending Happy Harbour High School today.

"I guess." Was his simple answer.

"Now I have some little rules for you, well requests really," I said from my spot standing in front of him he turned his head and looked at me from under the bike, "Watch your temper, please. I know you have gotten better but when a teacher pisses you off you can't just leave school to come here and work on the bike or stare at a static tv," I stated. "Or punch a wall, you can't do that either." He gave me a smirk and began working on the bike again. "I wasn't done, I still have two more requests. Watch M'gann while you're there," I said and he looked at me. "You know how she is. She is always so trustful of everyone and some people will use that, use her. Don't go overprotective, just watch for any sketchy overly friendly characters that continue to pester her, got it?" he nodded. "And last thing," I bent down and put my hands on my knees, "Try to make friends," he looked confused by this so I elaborated, "My high school experience sucked because I had no one to relate to because no one was my age. Now while you, in reality, aren't even a year old yet. You are physically and mentally a sixteen year old boy. You can sort of fit in, so please try to make friends, they'll make the experience worthwhile." I smirked, "Plus it will make a certain Martian happy that you are trying." His response was a small smile on his face as he finished his work.

Five minutes later, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, Kaldur, and M'gann all walked in. she carried two brown paper bags with a huge smile on her face. She flew towards us, "Ready for school, I made our lunches!"

"The first day of the scholastic season carries great cultural resonance, we wanted to wish you both well," Martian Manhunter said with a smile to his niece and Superboy.

"Guess it's not a Kryptonian thing huh?" Superboy asked with a twinge of sadness.

I walked towards him and gave him a hug with a squeeze, which he halfheartedly returned, "Screw him, he is missing out on a great moment which I am proud to be a part of," I said as I stepped away, "I can't remember my brother's first day of school ad my sister was too young to have her's," I said sadly, "I'm happy to be a part of my newer siblings' first day of school."

M'gann flew over and gave me a hug, "I am happy you are a part of it as well, Carter."

I stepped away from them both with a huge smile on my face. Kaldur stepped up and stopped by my side, "You may wish to…change before you depart," he pointed out.

"Ah, I spent hours choosing this outfit, "M'gann squealed excitedly as her clothes shifted into a white t-shirt cover partially by a pink cardigan and matching skirt with knee high white socks and black flats. She topped the look off with a red headband.

"What do you thing?" she asked with a twirl, "Can M'gann M'orrs pass for an Earth girl now?"

I raised an eye brow at her and bit my lips before speaking. "Um, M'gann your skin color…..?"

She laughed, "Just kidding," she said as she did another twirl. "Meet Megan Morris," she said in as her skin had change from its usual bright green to a slightly tanned complexion.

"Much better," I smiled in approval.

She turned to Superboy, "What's your new name, Superboy?" she asked curiously.

"My what?" he asked confused.

"Your name," she said, "You can't go by Superboy when you're in public."

Martian Manhunter stepped forward and changed into an African American business man, "I chose the name John Jones for myself and suggested John Smith for Red Tornado. You can be another John too—"

"No," I said shaking my head, "He doesn't look like a John."

"Pass," Superboy said agreeing.

"Well," M'gann said shyly, "Connor's always been my favorite name."

He shrugged and nodded.

"Hmm, I like it," I said with a smile, "I approve."

Kaldur agreed with a nod, "A last name will also be required," he said.

"Perhaps Kent?" Martian Manhunter suggested.

I turned to look at him and gave him a look saying "_Is that really a good idea?_" He shrugged in response but it was only seen by me.

"Oh, in Memory of Doctor Fate!" M'gann said, "The late Kent Nelson."

"Of course," Martian Manhunter agreed quickly and calmly.

"Well, Connor Kent, I suggest you change your shirt," M'gann said with a giggle, receiving an odd look from Superboy, now Connor.

"She's right, you can't walk around in the shirt, it raises suspicion and your identity."

He took off his shirt and flipped it inside out, I looked at M'gann who was blushing brightly.

"Will this work?" he said showing a plain black shirt.

"Works for me," M'gann swooned. I bite my lip and covered my mouth to stop myself from laughing at the adorable scene in front of me.

"Wait shouldn't I be Connor Nelson?" Connor asked.

"Kent sounds better," I said with a huge smile. "Now you guys should get going, you don't want to be late."

They both nodded and began walking towards the exit. "Good luck!" I yelled as they left then I noticed the floating paper bags, "And no powers!" M'gann turned around and grabbed them from the air giving me a sheepish smile.

"They grow up so fast," Martian Manhunter said as the door closed.

"Yeah, especially where Superboy is concerned," I said with a snort. I turned to the group of three and flashed them a smile, "Now if you shall excuse me I have some business to attend to with a certain caped figure."

I began making my way to the zeta tubes to zeta to Metropolis but was stopped by my name. "Carter!" I turned to see Aqualad walked towards me.

"Yeah?" I asked in a semi normal tone. I had been sort of avoiding him for the past couple of days since that very, very awkward morning.

"Can we discuss some things when you get back?" he asked while rubbing the back of his head.

"Of course," I said slightly high pitched. I cleared my throat, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, there are some things that need to be discussed," he said with a slight blush.

"Alright," I said unsure of what else to say. I pulled my sunglasses over my eyes, "I'll see you later, I guess."

"Correct," he said with a small smile.

_Recognized Blue Raven B04_

I walked out of the zeta tube and began walking towards my destination. The Daily Planet, I was going to have a long time coming conversation with the Blue Boy Scout.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Sooooooo HEY! soooo i figured the suspense was killing you guys so here is chapter 12 enjoy!**_

I approached the front desk of the building, and was meet with a very bored secretary talking on the phone. "Daily Planet, hold please," she said and turned to me, "Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes, ma'am breakfast with my uncle, Clark Kent," I said as I held up a white paper bag and a coffee cup. I figured if I was going to tell him he's an idiot I should at least buy him breakfast first, it's the polite thing to do.

"Do you know where his office is?" she asked dully.

"Yes, ma'am," I said with a cheery smile.

"You're free to go," she said, "Daily Planet, this is Charlotte, sorry for holding. How may I direct your call?"

I made my way to the office and politely knocked on the door, "Come in!"

I opened the door and closed it behind me causing him to look up, "Carter? What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," I said seriously as I walked up to his desk, "I brought your favorites, black coffee, two sugars, one cream, and a blueberry muffin." I placed the items on his desk and pulled my sunglasses back to rest on the top of my head.

He took them and looked at me warily through his glasses. "Thank you," he said suspiciously.

I sat down in one of the two chairs in front of the desk and crossed my legs and placed my arms crossed over my chest. "Today was his first day of school you know?"

He sighed and looked down, "This is about him."

"Yes it is," I said irritated, "look, Clark, I have known you since I was nine years old. You have mentored me, become an uncle and a wonderful role model to me. Why are you being so stubborn and stupid?"

He looked at me with a look of shock, "He is well taken care of."

"Yeah, he has shelter, food, yeah I got it, but what he really needs is guidance, YOUR guidance. He needs a mentor, his mentor. You!"

"He doesn't need me," He said shaking his head, "I am nothing but a reminder."

"Of what? Cadmus? He doesn't care! He idolizes you, Clark, even when you reject him he still hopes that you'll accept him. Face the reality of it, he's here, he isn't going away. He was created to replace you, defeat you, but instead he looks up to you. He wants you, he carries so much anger around with him and it interferes with his potential. He can be a wonderful amazing hero, Clark, but he can't if he doesn't have the proper guidance and mentor. Black Canary isn't going to cut it, I love her she is my mentor and my adoptive mother but she isn't a good fit for him, you are. The sooner you realize it the better it will be for the both of you." I looked at him dead on, "Because rather or not you see it yet, you need him just as much as he needs you, Uncle Clark."

He sat back in his chair, and rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses. "I can't see him as my son," he says looking me.

I shrug, "Then don't, look at him as your little brother, not as your clone or son. Not all mentor-protégé relationships are the same. Look at Aqualad and Aquaman," I whispered their names, then spoke at normal tone, "Kaldur doesn't see Orin as his father but as his king. Robin and I see our mentors as our parental figures because we live with them in our personal lives. Wally and Barry have a big brother, little brother thing going on because they are uncle and nephew. Different personal reactions fit into the mentoring relationship, because it just works." I leaned forward and huffed, "I'm not asking you to be his father, I'm asking you to just acknowledge him, accept him. He isn't going away, he needs help learning this world and the Team and I are trying but sometimes he asks us questions about his heritage." He perks up at this and leans forward on the desk.

"He asks about Krypton?" he asked quietly.

I nodded, "Yeah when it's just me. He doesn't talk a whole lot but he mostly talks to me or M'gann. He asks me sometimes about what it looked like, what happened to it, he asks me questions I can't give him answers to."

I stood up and brushed off my pants, "Just keep that all in mind, I'm sorry to have come unannounced and yell at you but it needed to be said. The League members, unfortunately, beat around the bush with these kinds of things. You need to face the reality that just because we all live two lives and are special, doesn't mean we don't have to deal with normal problems."

I walked towards the door and with my hand on the handle I paused and turned towards him, "Just realize this your chance at having a family, an actual blood-related family relationship." I took a breath and sighed, "I'd do anything to have a chance to have my brother or sister back," I said teary eyed, "Don't lose your chance at having a relationship with the brother you will never have." With that I being said, I pulled my sunglasses back down to cover my eyes and walked out of the office.

I took a walk through Metropolis Central Park, killing time and delaying the conversation with Kaldur as much as possible. I stopped in the middle of a secluded part of the park and ran my fingers roughly through my hair. "What am I doing?" I asked no one in particular. "Why is this effecting me so much? It's a conversation with a guy…...who I co-lead a team with…..who is my friend….who I happen to have a crush on…." I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I stood there for several moments, then I dropped my arms to my sides and bang to walk towards the nearest zeta tube, "I am a strong woman who can take down men five times her size, I am not going to let a conversation with a guy I like reduce me to a self-conscious scared-y cat!"

_Recognized Blue Raven B04_

"Kaldur! I'm back!" I yelled as I entered the cave's common room. I heard no reply back but saw a message left for me on a holo screen.

"Carter, left to go assist Red Arrow with a mission. Will talk when I get back. Kaldur," I said jealous, "Seriously, Roy, you couldn't ask me?"

I deleted the message and got a soda from the fridge and sat on the couch and turned it to the news. It was covering the peace summit between the North and South territories of Rhelasia. I cringed and almost spit out my soda when I saw Lex Luthor was the independent arbitrator.

"They couldn't have picked someone else?" I asked with a sip of soda as she began talking about the leaders of the countries and Luthor while showing footage of them arriving. I paused the footage of when Luthor had arrived after a failed assassination attempt at someone. I leaned forward and stood as I saw Roy dressed in a suit and sunglasses standing to the side in cuffs.

I placed the remote and soda on the table and ran to the zeta tubes grabbing my spare mask out of a hidden compartment in my new jacket. "Yeah, like I'm going to let you have all the fun, Roy."

_Recognized Blue Raven B04_

I ran to the building with was thankfully only a couple of blocks away from the zeta tube and was easily able to sneak in via a back employee entrance. I floated between the stairs on an energy disc and heard and explosion several floors above me. I floated faster and then jumped from my disc once I got to the landing I needed. I opened the door that lead to a hallway and I just had to follow the sounds of fighting to find the exact doors.

The boys were there right smack dab in the middle of the action. Red Arrow was fighting some chick in traditional Rhleasian garb who was talking smack, "You called one of your little sidekick friends? But didn't you tell me they weren't in your league?"

Her saying this caused Aqualad to become unfocused and looked away from his attacker, causing Sportsmaster to get in a good attack and knock him to the ground. Sportsmaster turned around and brought out his famous weapon the hammer, a large, heavy metal ball with spikes attached to a chain. He swung it at Aqualad who easily dodged it by rolling over. He jumped up and formed a similar weapon with his water tech in sword form.

Nearby one of the cronies and a security detail of one of the leaders ended, the latter losing. The goon turned to me and cracked my neck and got into a defensive stance, "Bring it on, Ugly, I've had a bad week and I've just been itching to punch something," I said with a smile and then I rushed him. He tried to dodge my initial attack but I had expected him to and had another to waiting for him. I punched him in the face with my right fist grabbed his hair him my hand with the left and grabbed his head with both hands and brought it down to my knee that I swung out effectively knocking out. I turned and ran to another fight where another Rhelasian security detail was failing. It was close to fight going on between Aqualad and Sportsmaster who were fighting, well fencing now, as I noticed Sportsmaster had a small metal sword in his hand. I punched my guy disorienting him and threw him at another guy that was about to attack Aqualad from behind.

The two men went down causing Aqualad to look at me, "I had a feeling you'd come," he said with a small smile as he glanced back to Sportsmaster.

I walked over and took a defensive stance next to him staring at the villain, "Like I would have missed this," I said sarcastically.

"Not bad," Sportsmaster said appreciatively, "Better than your team did in Santa Prisca or Bialiya."

"How did you—" Aqualad asked startled, I was not phased, villains always talked either to brag about their win or brag about another's failure.

"Let's just say I have an inside source," he said cockily, now this phased me as fumbled to keep my stance, "_Very_ inside."

"Aqualad," Red Arrow said as he shot an explosive arrow at the sprinklers making them go off, "Let's end this." _Okay either he didn't notice me or he is just being petty._

I moved back as Aqualad lifted his arms and formed the water into a giant serpent. He maneuvered it to take out several goons but once it reached Sportsmaster and the female who put on a cat mask, Chershire. That's who Red Arrow had been fighting. She threw a bomb at the mouth of the water snake and caused an explosion, _Smoke bomb!_ Aqualad let the sepent fall to the floor and form a large puddle before forming swords. I got in a defensive stance beside him and Red Arrow came up beside me bow and arrow ready to aim. "Nice of you to invite me," I said sarcastically.

"We had it handled," he snapped back.

The smoke cleared and showed the two villains had escaped. We turned to the scene behind us and saw the two leaders shaking hands and thanking Luthor for saving their lives.

"Seriously?" I snarled, "They owe him? What are you guys invisible?"

Since the two leaders were oh so grateful to Lex Luther they both agreed to sign the treaty. The three of us stood to the side all seething. I bite my tongue and held myself back from attacking him, even when he saw me and smirked. I walked away and the other two followed.

"I can't believe we just did a solid for Lex Luthor," Red Arrow said in angry disbelief.

"Not for Luthor, for peace," Aqualad said calmly, "Beyond that if Ra's, and the league of Shadows wanted to sabotage the summit, the signing to the treaty renders their contract mute. It is over."

"Is it?" He asked, "I heard what Sportsmater said, do you really think there is a mole on your team feeding him Intel?"

"I cannot rule out the possibility," Aqualad said seriously and looked at me before turning back to Red Arrow, "We will investigate, quietly."

Red Arrow raised an eyebrow, "You aren't going to tell them?"

"Of course, not," I said causing them both to look at me, "It will cause the team to be suspicious of each other causing unneeded tension. Besides anyone could have known we were in Bialiya. Villains are like old women, they gossip, especially about another's failures."

"Agreed we will not have the team unraveling over baseless suspicions and if there is a mole I have no intention of tipping him or her off," Aqualad replied.

Red Arrow smirked, "Good luck with that," he said and turned around to leave.

"One moment my friend," Aqualad said stopping him in his tracks, "tonight you could have called Green Arrow for help or the Justice League, instead your first instinct was to call the cave," he pointed out.

"You're right," Red replied not turning to face us, "The Team deserves… has my respect." He turned around and faced us, "I'm still getting used to this solo act stuff but if you need me I'll be there," he promised with a small smile. The two shook hands and then he turned to me.

"You still haven't answered my calls," I said in mock seriousness, even though it really irritated me that he didn't answer, making me, Oliver, and Dinah worry.

"I'll answer next time," he said with his smile. I brought him into a small hug.

"You better," I whispered, "We have been a little worried."

He stepped back and ruffled my hair with a smirk, I slapped his hand away and smoothed back my hair with my hand. "I'll always be there for you, Kid, even when you annoy me."

"Pssh, yeah, because I'm the annoying one," I said sarcastically, "And I am not a kid."

He walked away and then stopped and looked over his shoulder and looked between me and Kaldur, "You're right, you're not a kid anymore."

He vanished from sight and I turned to Kaldur, "What did you want to speak to me about?"

"It can wait, we will discuss it at the cave," he said and we began walking to the Zeta tube.

"Alright," I said unsure, "Is everything alright?" He nodded.

We go to the cave and I shed my mask and my leather jacket. I walked to the kitchen with him following right behind me. I laid my stuff on the bar and grabbed two waters from the fridge. I turned around and tossed him one, which he caught easily. I took a couple of sips of water and looked at him expectantly. "So what is it you wanted to discuss?"

"I don't particularly know where to start," he said with a perplexed expression.

"Well, the beginning is always an option," I offered with a shrug, "Especially, since I don't exactly know what you are talking about."

"Her name is Tula," he said, with a tone that made my heart drop. _Of course he would have a girlfriend back home, probably why he went. "_She was a good friend and I discovered she is now with my best friend Garth. I adored her and had this delusion that she would wait for me. It rather _stupid _of me because I never told her how I felt before I left the school to be Aqualad. When I discovered they were together, at first I was jealous, then I felt relief." _Why the hell is he telling me this? Does he want me to punch him? _"I was relieved that both of them continued on with their education and are improving. I am happy now that they are together."

"That's great, Kaldur," I lied smoothly.

"I suppose," he said, "But that's not what I really wanted to discuss. Going back to Atlantis, assured several things I was questioning myself about."

"Well then that's good, I guess," I said unsure, "I mean it's not uncommon to feel home sick, Kaldur, I'm sure the team will understand that sometimes you will want to take time off to go back home. Robin and I can keep Wally and Artemis from killing each other."

"I am sure you can," He said, "You have always been there for me, you have always been a good friend." _…Did I just get put in the friend zone?_ "Ever since we met you have always had my back and encouraged me to excel at being Aqualad. You have always been there for me and I hope what I am about to say doesn't change that."

I looked at him with a guarded expression and crossed my arms over my chest, "Are you leaving the team?" I asked.

He shook his head with a small smile, "No, I am staying, my place is here, with you and the team. Atlantis will always be my home but it no longer holds a place for me."

I gave him a small smile, "Good, because the team wouldn't be the same without you," I said and then I grabbed my water and took a swig, "Now what is this thing you need to tell me?"

"I have developed feelings for you," he said slowly.

I looked at him with a confused expression, "Well, of course, we are friends, through interactions you have them for everybody," I said matter of fact-ly.

"No, you misunderstood me," he said and with a huge sigh he looked at me and laid his hand on top of mine, "I have developed _romantic _feelings for you."

_ …..did…he…just…_

I stared at him frozen and then my water bottle slipped out of my hand causing it to crash against the floor and splash water everywhere. I ripped my hand away and jumped back. I looked down at the puddle at my feet. "I….um…I'll…yeah," I babbled and ran out of the kitchen.

"Carter!" he yelled but I didn't stop until I reached the zeta tubes.

_Recognized Blue Raven B04_

I ended up in Gotham City and for a second I was confused and then I realized why I was here. I ran to the cemetery and didn't stop until I collapsed on my knees in front of the three familiar stones. "Mom, I am freaking out," I said in one breath, "He likes me, Mom, why am I not happy? I am terrified, I literally froze in fear."

Obviously nothing answered so I continued, "Mom, I really wish you were here. This is all just so confusing. I'm supposed to be excited, this is like romance novel and chick-flick stuff. Why did I run?"

I just sat there staring at the stone waiting for anything to happen. Nothing did and my mind began to ponder. I always ran, ever since I could remember. I ran when they died, I ran when the Justice League tried to help me. I ran when Dinah would remind me of Mom. I ran when Oliver made me begin to like him and think of him as a crazy uncle. I ran when I realized I was beginning to think of Roy as a brother. It's just something I do and I have no idea why.

_Why? Why do I keep running? This isn't a track meet! I can't keep running from my problems. I call everyone else on their shit, and I can't even take what I dish out! _

"I shouldn't have ran," I told the stone, "I have made it a habit, it's unhealthy. I can't keep doing this, Mom. I have to face my problems head on, just like you taught me."

I got up from my spot and dusted my pants off with my hands. "I'm going to go talk to him. Thanks for listening, Mom, I'll be back soon."

_Recognized Blue Raven B04_

"Kaldur! Where are you?" I yelled as I walked into the common room. I heard no answer. I walked into the kitchen and saw he had cleaned up the water. I walked back out to the common room and yelled again, "KALDUR!" I heard splashing and ran in the direction, the grotto.

"Kaldur?" I yelled one more time getting discouraged and concerned that I was hearing noises. I looked at the water one more time and saw nothing. I sighed, "Probably was a fish."

I turned around and ran into him, literally. I jumped back and looked at him bewildered. "Don't do that!" I snapped.

He shrugged with a small smile, "My apologies."

I let out a huge breathe and notice the towel slung around his neck and looked down to see a puddle developing. I looked up at him and saw his sad expression. "I'm sorry," I said.

He smiled sadly, "It's fine, you simply don't feel the same—"

I shook my head before cutting him off, "No, that's the thing I do."

He looked at me, confused, "I don't understand."

"I…I like you too, Kaldur….a lot actually," I admitted feeling a blush develop on my face. "I ran because I was…..I am scared."

"You fear me?"

I nodded, "Not in the way that you think and it's not really your fault either. I am always wary when I begin to like someone, I don't want to get attached because I always have the fear that I will lose them too. Have another person that I love taken away from me. I built walls up to stop me from letting anyone in, to love someone else. You scare me because from the beginning you began breaking those down. With every time we'd work together, every little thing you did just began making me like you. You just appeared out of nowhere and you just snuck up on me. I wasn't ready." He was silent and just stared at me. I stepped forward and grabbed his hand in mine. I noted how different it felt from a normal human hand. The webbing between them was a new texture but I paid little mind to it. I looked at him directly in his eyes. "I am now," I declared, "I have spent the majority of my life running, I am done running."

I reached my other hand up to his neck and pulled his head down to mine. Our lips met and I realized I definitely made the right decision.

**_Sooooo this is a thing now...OH YEAH!_**


	13. Chapter 13

I pulled away and looked down blushing, I released his hand and pushed my hair behind my ear. I looked up to see he had a smile on his face and noticed he was slightly flushed. I smiled back, "Hi," I said stupidly, because literally nothing came to mind.

He chuckled, "Hello."

"So, I am sorry for running, I just needed to clear my head," I said quietly, "I hope I didn't upset you."

He shook his head, "I was upset, but now I understand."

I smiled and stepped back and removed my hand from the back of his neck. "Go dry off, I'll make us lunch, then we can finish talking, alright?"

He nodded and I began walking towards the kitchen. He stopped me by grabbing my hand and bringing me in for another kiss, "Just in case I can't do that for a while," he said with a smirk.

I laughed and shook my head, "You are hanging out with Wally too much, Water Boy, now go dry off." He laughed and made his way to the locker room. As soon as he was out of my sight I brought my hand up and touched my lips with my finger tips and smiled.

As soon as I got into the kitchen and began making sandwiches, M'gann and Superboy walked in from the hidden doorway they left through this morning.

"Hey, M'gann, Connor," I greeted with a smile, "How was your first day?"

"It was great, I made the Bumblebees, the cheer leading team, and made new friends," She said with a smile, "Not that they can ever replace you guys," she said nervously.

I laughed, "M'gann, it is alright to have friends at school. And it's nice that you got into the Bumblebees, it's good to be involved." I turned to Connor, "How was your day? Didn't hit anybody did you?"

He grinned, "No, I did as you asked."

"Good," I said simply and then I saw Kaldur come into view down the hall.

"Did you guys want a sandwich?" I asked as I finished one and put it on a plate. They both nodded in response. M'gann began making drinks, while Connor sat down at the bar watching her every move. I raised an eyebrow at him with a smile and he responded with a small one of his own.

"M'gann, Connor," Kaldur greeted as he walked into the kitchen. "How was school?"

"Kaldur! I was just about to ask were you were," she said with a smile, "It was great! We both enjoyed it and made some new friends."

"That's wonderful, M'gann," He said and then turned to me, "Is this my sandwich?"

I nodded with a smile, "Sure is, just how you like it," I said and I handed him the plate. He grabbed the plate and touched my hand as he did and gave me a small smile. I looked down with a slight blush as I made the next one.

"_Batman to the Team, mission debriefing in ten minutes,"_ the voice said through the com.

I pressed my hand to the com, "Blue Raven to Batman, message received, but only Aqualad, Miss Martian, Superboy, and I are here."

"_Good, you four are the ones I need to speak with."_

We all looked at each other and then I shared a look with Aqualad who was just as confused as I was. We finished our sandwiches and gathered in the main room of the cave just as the zeta tubes announced Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Red Tornado. Batman walked up to the holo computer and pulled up the mug shots of four villains.

He turned to us, "This past fourth of July, four ice villains staged simultaneous attacks. Mr. Freeze, Icicle Junior, Killer Frost, and Captain Cold were all easily apprehended, perhaps too easily. Cold and Frost were immediately sent to Belle Reve Penitentiary, a federal prison designed to house super criminals. The seventeen year old Icicle Junior was sent to a juvenile facility. Mr. Freeze to his usual cell in Arkham Asylum. But Freeze petitioned the court to declare him legally sane and Junior sued to be tried as an adult. As a result both await transport to Belle Reve, which seems to have been the goal all along." He stepped forward and looked at Miss Martian and Superboy, "I'm sending the two of you in to find out why."

"Who inside the prison will know their true identities?" Aqualad asked.

"No one, we can't be certain if the prison staff isn't compromised."

"Are you sure they are ready for a solo, undercover mission?" I asked skeptically.

Batman looked at me, "Do you doubt their capabilities?"

"No, I do not doubt my teammates, but their inexperience in undercover work and the fact that they will be alone in a prison filled with hundreds of angry super villains gives me great concern for their well being. I trust my team I, however, do not trust the villains that will be surrounding my _team _on their own," I snarled I felt Superboy come to my side and place a hand on my shoulder, I still glared at Batman.

"Carter," Superboy said, I huffed and turned to look at him and saw Miss Martian stood right next to him, "We can do this."

"He's right," Miss Martian said, "being on the Team and training with some of the League has prepared us. If we can't go on missions on our own, why teach us at all?"

I let out a dark laugh, "I kind of regret Robin using that phrase." I stared at the two of them with a sad expression, "Are you sure you'll be okay by yourselves?"

They both nodded, "We are ready."

I let out a big breath, "I swear if you guys get hurt I'm going to kill you," I said jokingly, causing Superboy to smirk.

"Like to see you try," he teased back.

I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and punched him in the arm. I pulled away with a wince as a I shook my hand, "Never mind, I lied you can stay there, Miss Martian at least bakes cookies." I turned to Batman, "When do they start?"

He turned to the holo computer and after a couple of second the feed to the national news popped up on a holo screen.

"Kat Grant, reporting live to you from here in Biloxi, Mississippi. Behind me is the destruction left behind after another rampage of a duo known as the Terror Twins," the blonde woman said into her mic, "There are no fatalities or major injuries but several thousand dollars' worth of damage to public property." The news was muted and we all turned to Batman as several more screens popped up behind him.

"The Terror Twins have been on a rampage through the southern states starting in Alabama and making their way through Mississippi and soon Louisiana. Tomorrow morning, Superman and Martian Manhunter will apprehend the real Terror Twins and place them in a high security facility off the grid, you will go into Belle Reve in disguise as Tommy and Tuppence Terror. Find out the plan and who's behind it. Aqualad and Blue Raven will be on the prison's property in the bio-ship for backup along with Red Tornado."

They both nodded in conformation. Batman told us to meet here in the morning at ten and dismissed us. The Leaguers all began to walk towards the zeta tubes, I cleared my throat really loudly causing them to turn around I looked directly at Superman raised eyebrows, I directed my eyes at Superboy and cleared my throat again. He glared briefly at me before looking at Superboy. He sighed, "Good luck." Then he turned and went through the zeta tube. The rest of them looked at me as I cursed in Japanese, "Orokana o shiri sūpāpawādo baka!" (Stupid ass super powered idiot!). Then quickly went through the zeta tube.

I turned to Superboy who had a conflicted look on his face, "Come on, let's go do something with your hair. We are probably going to have to bleach it."

"Bleach it?" he asked defensively.

"Yep, it's a nasty smelling chemicals that will make your hair blonde," I said to which he replied with a grimace. "Congratulations, welcome to girl world, where we wish it was as easy as being a Martian." Miss Martian giggled in response.

The next day we flew to New Orleans, Louisiana, where the Terror Twins had been spotted around thirty minutes ago. Batman directed us to a warehouse to where I would drop off the others to meet up with Red Tornado. I parked the bio-ship in an empty parking lot near the warehouse, and stood up from my seat as well as the other. I walked and stopped in front of Superboy who was now dressed up as a look-a-like Tommy Terror. Dressed in a white t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off with black pants and combat boots with red suspenders, a black belt and a chain with a lock around his neck. His hair had come out nice and very similar to the villain's hair. I looked at him, "Be careful, the both of you can keep in contact. Let us know if you need help okay?"

"We will be fine," Miss Martian said with a smile, "I'll bake peanut butter chip cookies when we get back!"

"I'm going to hold you to that," I said with a smile then I looked to the direction that the fight was and noticed it getting closer. "Go and meet up with RT the fight is getting closer, "I turned to Aqualad, "I'll be back to get you and RT once you're finished."

"What are going to go do?" he asked curiously as the others walked ahead.

"Going to a Walmart," I said with a smirk, "We might be here for a few days and I need to get water and food." He smiled and then shook his head as he walked away. "What?" I asked with a smile. "I'm going scout a location to, Genius." He turned back and just gave me a smile. I rolled my eyes and walked up the ramp and took the helm of the bio-ship.

Two days later they were finally transported to Belle Reve from central booking. And we stayed with in Miss Martian's link range in the bio-ship on camouflage mode. On the first day they found out the plan, the whole prison was planning on breaking out. I secretly wanted to pull them out right then but realized they needed to know when they. It was quite tense on the bio-ship, Aqualad and I both began to worry when Miss M wouldn't check in in a long time period. Red Tornado just stood in the same place and gave encouragement once or twice in his own way. Aqualad tried to comfort me but it was pointless I was going to be worried until they were both right in front of me. The second day they were there they discovered the break out was going down. We wanted to get them out and call the Justice League but Miss M reasoned that they needed to stay to find out how they were breaking out, because if the League intervened they would just postpone the break out. Aqualad relented and looked annoyed as he told Red Tornado that we needed to stay alert. We got them out that night, they were able to stop the prison break out and also came out together….like _together. _We got back to the cave that night. After a late dinner the other two went to bed and Kaldur and I sat outside the cave on the little ledge I like that's a couple of feet above the exit. We both leaned the wall of the mountain and looked up at the stars holding our hands between us.

"Carter?"

I tilted my head to look at him, "Yes?"

"Why are you a hero?"

I turned my head and shot him a curious look, "What do you mean?"

"I have watched you these past few months and find that you get fiercely protective of us, the Team and some of the League members even. But I see you also get worried and concerned about us as well, why did you get involved when all of you friends are at risk?"

I pursed my lips and turned back to look at the sky and thought before speaking. "A lot of things made me want to be a hero. To help people was the main one, I remember when I was younger walking on the streets I'd always see people get hurt because of the high crime rate. Families became incomplete because someone died, and I never knew how it felt until it happened to me, I didn't want to see it anymore. The powers were another factor, I hoped one day I could use them for good instead of the evil that they were meant for. The final reason was I guess Black Canary, when she and Green Arrow took me in I saw them leaving for missions and began to get worried that I'd lose someone else too. I finally decided when I figured if they were going to be at risk so would I because I'd be at their side fighting right with them until the very end." I turned to look at him and saw he had turned his head to look at me. "Does that answer our question?"

"It does," he said and then leaned his forehead to rest on mine, "It explains some things."

"What did I make clearer?" I asked rather huskily, as I liked my lips.

"How you grew to be this courageous young woman that I am grateful to call my girlfriend."

Needless to say with that line he got a lot of kisses to show just how 'grateful' he is. I left that night with one last make out session in an alcove near the zeta tubes. "I'll see you in a couple of days, call me if you need me, okay?" I said sadly, my midterms were in a couple of days and with the craziness going on with the Team, I had yet to study for them or complete assignments.

"I promise," he said with a small smile as he pulled me in for a hug.

I hadn't heard from the cave in a few days but I wasn't concerned. Dinah would have let me know if anything was up so until then her and Oliver left me to my studies. Today was my last day of midterms and it was a packed day with exams from ten in the morning and not ending until six at night. I left my com at home and my cell phone was on silent in my bag. That was a mistake I will never make again. I walked out of my last final towards the nearest zeta tube by campus. I stepped underneath the range of the scanner and once I stated my destination it didn't work, I frowned and went the hidden keypad in the wall of the building and it didn't work putting it in manually either. I pulled out my phone and saw I had almost thirty missed calls. I began to get worry I called Dinah who answered on the second ring.

"Where are you?" she ordered.

"I'm at the zeta tube off campus, it's not letting me zeta to the Cave. What's wrong?" I snapped back her.

"The zeta tubes at the cave are down," she told me.

"No, I have thirty missed calls on my phone, _what's wrong?"_

She sighed, "Something…..something is happening at the cave."

I almost dropped my phone but was able to catch it, "I'm on my way," I said hastily. I checked to see if the coast was clear and I took off my civilian clothes to reveal my Blue Raven outfit. I stuffed my clothes in my school bag and then zetaed the closest location I could and traveled the rest of the way on an energy disc. I got there half in forty five minutes to get there and I should have been exhausted but I was too hyped up on adrenaline. The League mentors were there and they all turned whenever I landed. I bypassed Black Canary and walked right towards Batman, Superman, and Martian Manhunter.

"What's going on?" I asked angrily.

"We don't know," Superman said.

"The video feeds were cut off by an explosion of some origin inside the cave," Batman said.

"Then why don't we I don't know ….OVERRIDE THE CAVE ENTRANCE AND FIND OUT WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO MY TEAM!" I yelled sarcastically.

"Blue Raven," Black Canary warned from behind me.

I turned around, "No, that is MY team, MY second family is in there and I want to know what is going on in there."

"I am overriding the system, now," Batman said, "Martian Manhunter goes in first. He will make sure they are there and the threat is gone."

I nodded with a huff, "I will go on your order," I agreed.

He worked on overriding the system and was done in a couple of minutes. The huge door that lead to the hanger went down and Martian Manhunter vanished as he went inside. After couple of minutes later I heard him yell, "They are in here, in the grotto."

I ran down the ramp and through the hanger towards the grotto with the mentor following behind me. Except for Flash who ran ahead. I stopped momentarily stopped as I saw they all laid on the ground, except for Kid and Superboy who were in some sort of rock trap. I ran towards them and slowed down as I began to search I found him quickly and turned him over slowly and checked his pulse, "Thank god," I breathed as I found on through his neck.

"Get back, Carter," Aquaman said, I looked up and saw that he had gathered some water in a bucket. I sat back out of the splash range, and watched as he dumped that water on him. I leaned forward again and checked his pulse again. I smiled as it became stronger and he began moving. Then suddenly he shoot up and collided heads with me. "Ouch!" I exclaimed as I rubbed my forehead, I looked down at him to see him rubbing his as well. "Can we please stop doing that? You're going to end up giving me a concussion one of these days with your hard head."

He formed a small smile on his face, "And I yours."

I rolled my eyes and helped him sit up, "You're lucky I found you unconscious or I would punch you," I said affectionately.

"Kaldur," Aquaman said grabbing both our attentions, "How are you feeling?"

"My king," Kaldur answered, "I will recover."

I turned around and saw the others were fine as well. I helped Kaldur stand up and went to grab him two water bottles. I gave him one and he drank it in a couple of gulps. I handed him the other one with a smirk and turned to Robin. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, everyone is fine, except Kid and Superboy they are still trapped and Artemis is still out."

"Good, now _what happened?_"

"Red Tornado and his siblings," Robin said irritated.

I looked at him confusion, "Red Tornado has siblings?"

"Robots of similar build and color scheme attacked us," Kaldur said from behind me.

"Yeah, one was a pyrotechnic and the other could control water," Robin continued. "Artemis and I managed to bring them both down with an EMP burst using the main generator. Red Tornado came and scanned them and he changed."

"He turned on us, caused a cyclone effect that took away the oxygen in the room," Kaldur said.

"One of them must have had a virus of some sort," I said as I saw them attempting to get the boys out of their structures. "Excuse me."

I walked over them and looked closer at the metal they were trapped in. I walked over to Green Arrow and grabbed two of his explosion arrows out of his quiver and went to the hanger and got some copper wire. I draped the copper wire over the metal, "How's it going Wally?"

"Eh same old same old, how were midterms?"

"Can't complain I've had worse," I said with a shrug.

Once I finished I handed one of the arrows to Flash, "One my count slam the arrow onto the copper wire here," I pointed.

"Uh, you're sure this is going to work."

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't," I said with a smile I stepped back and formed and energy disc in my hands. "On three, one, two, three." I slammed the disc down at the same time he did with the arrow the explosive while normally has a fifteen foot radius only shot out a foot. The heat exerted from the reaction was absorbed by my disc and formed a reaction that heated up the wire. After a minute the metal began melting and causing it to transition it to be more pliable. With my energy disc, I made it reach over the top and underneath as a layer between the metal and Wally. With a quick jerk the metal bent revealing a now free Kid Flash. He jumped out and stretched and picked me up in a hug. "Thank you, Gorgeous," He said with a kiss on my cheek.

"Wally, I can still throw you into a wall," I said in mock seriousness, "Now PUT ME DOWN!"

"Alright, alright," he said quickly putting me down, "Sorry."

I huffed and glared at him but that only lasted for a minute before I pulled him into a hug, "I'm glad you're okay," I said and then I released my hold and slapped him upside the head, "But pick me up like that again and I play Wally Tennis, got it?"

He put his hands up in surrender, "Got it!"

"Good," I said with a smirk and I turned to Superboy who was still trapped. "We'll get you out, Superboy, so get that pout off your face."

We repeated the same process again and this time Superboy was able to help and push himself out of the metal. Superman meanwhile was able to finally wake up Artemis who was very angry.

"She's alright," he called to us and I walked over just as he pulled her up.

"What happened?" Superman asked her.

"What happened? The Red's happened," she snapped at him making me grin a little bit. "Red Tornado and his—wait where are they?" She asked as she looked around.

"Gone," Robin said dejected, "All three of them gone."

"How are you feeling?" I asked her.

"I'm fine, a little aggravated, but fine," she said with a slight pout.

"Honestly, Art, when are you not aggravated?" I asked her amusingly.

She grinned, "How were your tests?"

"Good, I'll find out in a couple of days, how was your first day of school?"

She shrugged, "Can't complain."

We walked closer to the group and I saw M'gann had finished talking with her uncle. I walked to her side and gave her a hug. "I'm happy you're okay," I murmured to her and pulled away.

She gave me a small smile, "I am happy you are too, we tried contacting you but got worried when you didn't answer."

I looked at her and then turned to Kaldur, "I didn't have my com with me anyways, it died. Why didn't you tell me you tried contacting me?"

"The coms were down, you were in your exams," he said calmly, "Robin and Artemis were on their way so I didn't want you to worry."

I looked at him with an annoyed look, "I can reschedule exams, I can't reschedule saving your lives," I said as I walked up to him, "Next time call me, that's kind of why Batman gave you a cellphone in the first place."

"I promise," he said and with that he pulled me into a hug, which I returned.

"I was worried anyways, I had thirty missed call by the time I got out of my last test. When I got here I kind of yelled at our mentors," I said quietly.

He pulled away, "You didn't hit any of them did you?"

I rolled my eyes, "No…..but I was close," I said, "But hey I kind of had the right too, my family was trapped in here and I had no idea what was going on."

He smiled, "I'm glad you didn't assault one of the mentors."

"I'm glad you're alright," I said with a small smile.

We were dispersed after that, Robin and Wally went home with their mentors. Connor and M'gann went on their own and went somewhere. I stayed behind with Kaldur, M'gann, and Connor. We didn't stay awake for long, he was still very tired and after a couple of minutes of resistance I talked him into going to bed.

The next morning was extremely tense. The whole Team gathered at the table and waited until the League members finished setting up the cave. One of the Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan was putting in a new generator. I notice Martian Manhunter and Captain Atom working on the cave's security systems and linking it to the watch towers. Kaldur was talking with Batman on the other side of the room. Green Arrow came over and brought us a bowl of some snack.

"Thanks but no thanks," Kid said pushing the bowl away. I gave Green Arrow a small sympathetic smile.

"Yeah what we want are answers. About Red Tornado and his siblings," Robin said glaring at the green archer. I elbowed him in the side and gave him a glare of my own.

"Exactly," Kid said then grabbed GA's wrist to stop him from taking the bowl, "Leave the bowl." He grabbed a handful of the snack and shoved it all in his mouth.

"Wally, the food will still be there if you just eat a couple at a time. It's not going to disappear if you don't eat them in a certain time," I sassed as I got up from the table.

"Haha," he said sarcastically. "You're so funny."

"Oh I know I'm hysterical," I said with a smirk, "I'm going get something to drink, anyone want anything?"

Artemis and M'gann nodded, and I walked towards the kitchen to get some. I was literally gone for two minutes, _two. _ And all hell had broken loose. I walk into the room to see Connor have Kaldur by his shirt and was shouting in his face.

"That Android and his manic family nearly killed M'gann!" he yelled I dropped the three water bottles as I ran towards them while M'gann flew at them yelling. "Connor! What are you doing?"

I wrapped both boys into energy shields and pulled them apart. I let Kaldur go but still held onto Connor as he struggled. "CALM DOWN!" I ordered but it was no use, he was still furious.

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!"

"You knew?" Robin asked.

"And didn't tell us?" Wally yelled.

"I sought to protect the team from—" Kaldur started but was cut off.

"Protect us from what?! Knowledge that might've saved our lives?" Artemis yelled seething.

"You almost died!" Connor said stopping his glaring at Kaldur to turn to M'gann.

"Enough!" Batman barked. We all turned to him I released Connor which he responded with a glare my way. I crossed my arms and paid attention to the Dark Knight. "With Red Tornado…missing. The team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel volunteered to take the first shift," he said as the mentioned hero stepped forward.

"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys," he grinned.

"After I dismantle Red Tornado," Connor said darkly towards Kaldur, "You and I are gonna—"

"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League that makes him League responsibility. You _will_ leave him to us," Batman said glaring at Connor. I stepped between the boys and sent Connor a glare of my own. "I have another assignment for this team." He turned to the holo computer and holographic images of newspapers began popping up.

"Gotham Mayor attacked by Guerrilla Gorilla," Kid said annoyed.

His protégé felt offended as well, "Batman, please," Robin said exasperated, "tell me you're not sending us on this joke of wild ape chase?"

"I never joke about a mission," Batman said seriously, "I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hills encounter was only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."

"Pfft, your team," Kid sneered.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled sternly making everyone in the room jump, "You're acting exactly like Roy and I have had enough. We are not going to be picky about missions like we are god damned children in a candy store. When given a mission no matter how ridiculous it is we accept it. That is our jobs as future heroes we can't pick and choose who we save, bitching about missions ends now and we will go to India as a Team, is that understood?"

"Why aren't you mad about this?" Robin asked annoyed.

"Because I knew before and I agreed that it was in the best interest of the team to keep it between a select few," I said cordially, "The source wasn't exactly credible but it was our duty to look into it."

"You're serious?" Wally asked, "This is the exact reason why we formed this Team because _they_ did that to us."

"Being a leader means you need to make hard decisions, we did it so you wouldn't fight amongst each other and suspect one another is a mole," I snapped. "You have no idea how easy it was to make that decision because we wanted to protect you from yourselves. We did what was in the best interest of the team and I am not sorry because you are doing that exact thing I suspected you'd do. So _congratulations_ for proving me right and doing exactly what _they_ wanted to accomplish."

I turned around and walked towards the hanger, "Let's get this mission done, I have better things to do then hear you act like children."


	14. Chapter 14

_**okay so TLG19 here and can i just say i am like a proud momma of this story right now? Almost 4000 views and almost 50 follows, favorites, and reviews! i am happy to see that people like Carter and her story so much and the fact that someone called her fierce just caused me to reward y'all so here is Chapter 14 and i hope you enjoys my fellow YJs! remember to treat that little white box down below with lots of attention and love!**_

The ride to India was tense to say the least and it didn't help the fact that Captain Marvel decided to join along for the 'fun'. We arrived at our coordinates and Robin and Artemis jumped out first on lines to scout for anything suspicious before the rest of us landed.

"All clear," Robin called and the rest of us exited the ship.

"Switch to stealth, and we'll review parameters," Aqualad said as his suit changed to a dark grey and black.

"Parameters?" Kid barked as his he changed his suit to stealth, "We don't need no stinking parameters."

"It's recon we know what to do," Robin said darkly. The two turned and began walking towards the forest.

"Kid, Robin," Aqualad called desperately.

"The four of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets us," the later snapped.

"Or did you two forget that like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" Kid said sarcastically as he pulled his goggles over his eyes. They ran into the forest.

I walked up beside him and squeezed his hand in mine, "They'll get over it, they just need to cool down."

"Agreed," he said with a sigh and squeezed my hand before letting it go.

"Come on I'll keep you safe," Superboy said I turned around to see he had grabbed Miss Martian's arm which she jerked out of his grasp. She was talking to him telepathically to which he responded out loud, "I just want to protect you," he said innocently.

Artemis walked towards the couple, "Like Aqualad protected us?" she asked poking him in the chest with her bow, "I'm not sure your protection or your patronizing is good for our health." They both walked away from him and looked at us, "Blue Raven, you coming?" she asked, "We need to talk."

I looked at the two boys who were that last ones left of the team besides Captain Marvel. "Yeah, I'll go," I said and then turned to Aqualad, "Stay safe, com me if you need me."

I followed the two girls into the jungle and could vaguely hear Superboy protesting before he jumped away. We began walking along side of a river when Artemis finally broke the silence. "Why didn't you trust us?" she asked angrily and I could see the hurt in her face.

"We didn't trust the source. And we knew that once you were told of the possibility of there being a mole you would have a hard time remaining unbiased towards one another. We knew you all would stand as a team but always have a small voice in your head that would make you distrust each other," I said honestly, "I mean think about it on the way here you looked at each other and wondered if one of us was a mole."

Neither of them said a word but I continued, "I can only speak for myself but I didn't want to cause fighting amongst us because that is exactly what the Light would want. I figured ignorance was bliss than having you guys fight like you're doing. If the same thing were to happen I still would chose the same, because it's our responsibility as leaders to worry about that."

They were silent for a moment before Miss Martian finally spoke, "What is happening between you and Kal-Aqualad?"

I flushed and tried to keep my tone as normal as possible, "What do you mean?" I asked innocently.

Artemis snorted, "We saw you holding hands, we also see those cute little stare across the room at each other thing you both do."

"Also when it's just the four of us in the cave the other day, you and him mysteriously disappeared outside four a couple hours," Miss M pointed out with a smirk.

I smiled and shook my head, "Boy Wonder has a run for his money for second best detective in the world," I stated amusingly.

"So what are you to like dating?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah, we are but it's still new," I said, "We are taking things slow."

"Yeah because making out for two hours is slow," Miss M said sarcastically before she caught us looking at her, "Not that that's a bad thing," she said high pitched.

We both laughed at her, "It's alright, Miss M," I said amused, "Guess we both have to be more careful at the cave. We were trying to stay out of the cameras so our mentors wouldn't find out. We want to be more….established before we tell them."

"Why? I'm sure they'd be fine," Artemis said.

"GA and BC would be very parental about it, Aquaman I'm unsure of how he'd react but, Aqualad agreed we should just kind of keep it between us. Find ourselves first before everyone else begins to meddle." Before they could saw anything we heard a splash in the river besides us and turned to see a huge supersized crocodile jump out of the water towards Miss Martian which she held back telepathically. Artemis aimed an arrow and I formed energy balls. But before either of us could react another appeared underneath Artemis and pulled her under within seconds. "Miss Martian, go save Artemis I go it." With a nod from her I threw the energy spheres at it catching its attention long enough to allow Miss Martian fly away and go into the water.

I ran away from it and towards a tree filled with vines, "Come on, Big Boy, let's see how you fight on land."

It leapt at me and began to get tangled in the vines. They didn't faze him at first but then I began to climb higher and soon he got completely tangled. I jumped onto his head and noticed he had a collar around his neck. I shot a ball at it and the collar fell onto the ground and the giant began to stop struggling. I walked over the top of its head and saw it looked scared. "I'll let you go if you promise to not hurt me or my friends and you can go back with yours got it?"

I don't know for the sake of me why I was talking to a giant crocodile who just tried to eat me and my friends nor why I was letting it go. But I did and it traveled right back into the river and vanished from sight. Miss Martian and Artemis looked at me like I was crazy and then I held up the collar. "This was a calculated attack and those poor animals were injected with Kobra Venom," I said as I dropped the broken collar onto the grass. "The others may be in similar situations."

I pressed my finger up to my ear, "Blue Raven to the team—" I looked to the others, "Miss Martian establish a link with Aqualad, the com's are jammed."

"_Link established."_

_"Aqualad, can you hear me," _my voice rang through our heads.

"_Yes, Blue Raven, report," _he said through the link.

_ "Artemis, Miss Martian, and I were just attacked by Kobra Venom enhanced crocodiles with inhibitor collars, be on alert for any—"_

"_To late_," Aqualad said through the link, "_Captain Marvel and I were just attacked by enhanced elephants. We were able to get their collars off and all parties walked away unharmed."_

_ "Good, we will regroup at your location."_

There was no response for a moment and I looked towards Miss Martian who simply shrugged. I rolled my eyes, _Boys._

I turned toward the river and saw Artemis's quiver floating in the river, "Hey," I nodded to the floating object, "Found your quiver."

Miss M easily got it out of the water telepathically and Artemis dumped the water out of it.

"_Miss Martian I need a telepathic link up with the entire team, now!" Aqualad said urgently. _

_She put two fingers to her temple and her voice rang through our heads again, "Link established."_

"_Should he really still be giving us orders and should you really be following them?" Artemis said skeptically through the link. I gave her a look of my own and she simply shrugged._

"_Listen, please," Aqualad said through the link. I straighten up at his tone._

"_Oh good, Aqualad's voice in my head," Kid's voice rang through sarcastically, "I've so missed that."_

"_Hey Kaldur," Robin called through, "KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. Of course since you think we're all moles you probably think we attacked ourselves."_

"_If he did he wouldn't tell you," Artemis said as she clipped on her quiver._

"_Superboy, are you online or just pouting?" Miss Martian asked cutting them off._

"_Busy, call back later," he said._

"_What gets to me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us," Kid complained loudly through the link._

"_He should be chalant," Robin said, "Way chalant, extremely chalant! At least Car gave us her reasons."_

"_Yeah which you are clearly proving right now by acting so damn childish and butchering the English language," I said angrily through the link, "How about the two of you man up and stop being so butt hurt about it. We did what we had to do. Cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it." _

_ "How can we be a team if you guys don't trust us with your secrets?" Artemis asked._

_ "Or if Connor doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves," Miss Martain said._

_ "Serioulsy, we talked about this—"I started but then the boys just ignored me._

_ "Did they really think you or I could be the mole?" Kid asked Robin._

_ "We've known each other for years!" Robin said._

The two pairs both began having conversations through the link and it began to cause me to get a headache. I sat down on a log and went unnoticed by the girls, "_Kaldur, do something you're too quiet," I said physically wincing, "Defend yourself."_

_ Nothing happened for a moment then a surge of anger entered the link, "ENOUGH!" Aqualad yelled mentally causing me to wince. "Captain Marvel had been captured and we must act as a team to save him."_

_ "Under your leadership," Kid snorted, "I don't think—"_

_ "This is not up for debate!" Kaldur snapped, "You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader I will happily step down. But until that time I am in command here."_

_ There was silence through the link and I took a deep breath, "If Aqualad steps down, I will too." I said warily, "I may...even leave."_

"_Carter, you don't have to—" Kaldur started._

"_I was going to tell you guys when it was definite but I got an opportunity to study at various colleges in Europe for a year. I have my last interview next week and they will let me know. If i got it i was going to temporarily leave the team, but it might be permanent if you guys can't get it together. This is physically and mentally exhausting and I will not put my health in danger just because you all are heartbroken because we didn't tell you something that would break apart the team because look it did," I said and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I didn't want to mention it if it wasn't happening."_

"_Carter," Wally said through the link, "We started this team together we have been fighting side by side for years."_

"_Are you really going to leave all of this?" Robin asked._

"_I will if I can't handle it," I said sadly, "You guys remember what happened last time, I almost killed those people when i got out of control. I won't let that happen again. So you all better fix this and become a team or this is how it's going to be. Because in case any of you hadn't noticed, I am mentally exhausted and physically in pain from you're mental arguing."_

The girls took notice of who I sat on the log and how pale and clammy I was. "_We'll stop for now, but we want a real explanation from you, Kaldur," _Artemis said mentally as she helped me to my feet.

"_Regroup at my location," Aqualad ordered. With a pause his tone soften, "Carter, are you alright to continue?"_

_ "I'll be better now that the arguing has stopped. My brain was overloaded and took my energy to physically shield itself," I said, "My energy reserves should be up by the time we get there."_

_ "Good, be careful," he ordered softly._

_ "We will," I said in a warning tone._

Artemis let me go, "Are you okay to walk?"

I nodded, "I'm fine, or at least I will be."

We walked in silence. "Were you serious about leaving the team?" Miss Martian asked quietly.

I thought carefully before I answered, "I don't really know."

We got to the others and came up with a plan. Robin and Kid ended up on high ground when they were attacked and saw some sort of a compound. We approached it hidden in shadows and took up various posts. This was definitely the place I noted as the concrete structure was surrounded by pylons.

"_I'll fly over-"_Miss Martian started.

"_Negatory! The field extends like a dome over the whole compound," _Kid said as he looked through his goggles.

"_Pylons are insulated but one good shock could cause a momentary gap," _Robin said I noticed from my spot in the tree he was typing rapidly on his holo computer.

"_I see a target,"_ Artemis said.

"_Then be ready to hit it. Be ready, all of you," _Aqualad ordered. Then he dashed out of his spot in the shadows, his arm tattoos glowing. He pressed his palms against the field and caused the area to glow and then you could barely see a small hole forming.

"_Now!" _Kid ordered. I jumped from my spot on the tree just as Artemis shot the arrow perfectly and the field dissipated. We all began to approach and then I saw a shadow appear on the roof. A monkey was on the roof, I didn't alarm anyone until I was the collar beeping red around its neck.

"Roof!" I warned as I formed energy balls in my hands. The monkey screeched and caused an alarm to go off and a small army of them to appear.

"Remove their collars!" Aqualad ordered as he ripped one off of one of the monkeys who scampered away.

I ran to one of the two that were attacking Robin, I wrapped my arms around its neck and secured his arms with my feet. I surged energy through my hands and caused the collar to short circuit causing it to be unlock and drop from its neck. I released the monkey and watched it scamper away. Artemis shot the other one with and arrow and short circuited the monkey's collar too. Two more appeared from behind her and Robin got them with some of his birdarangs.

I saw that there we no more left and felt a bit of relief until the doors of the compound opened and revealed a giant gorilla with a machine gun and a red beret. I saw him step forward and then turn and grab something out of the air. He slammed it to the ground and the form of Miss Martian appeared on the ground. He aimed his machine gun at her.

"Get your hands off her you darn dirty ape!" Kid Flash yelled as he sped towards them. It was however a really short lived hero moment because the giant ape turned around and he slammed into the ape's rest knocking him back.

I ran towards him shooting an energy disc at his machine gun and causing him to look up and glare at me. I stopped in my tracks and smirked. "What's the matter tall, dark, and ugly? Don't like it when people shoot at your toys?" I taunted, I formed two energy balls in my hands, "How about you pick on someone who is actually conscious?" He growled but made no movement, "Alright I'll just bring the fight to you," I stated and began running toward it. I began throwing balls at random having him look at other directions and then I shot him in the face when I was close enough. I growled and began to hold his face. I formed a huge shield in front of me and slammed into him pushing the energy shield to him slamming into the compound and hitting a ball. I ran inside and grabbed him a shield and threw him at another wall. The others were right behind me, "That's what you get for messing with my sister, Apeboy!" as I noticed he was unconscious for now. We walked into the room and found a strange pod on wheels holding a scalpel with a robotic arm. The strangest thing was the dome like top was clear and inside the glass you could see a brain with probes attacked to various parts.

"It's the Brain," Kid exclaimed.

"Ugh! I can see it's a brain," Artemis snapped.

"Not a brain, The Brain!" he snapped back with an eye roll.

"In ze flesh," the little R2D2 looking robot said in a French accent, "So to speak." He turned to the now conscious giant ape and ordered something in French.

The ape pulled out a remote and pressed a button. Four pylons formed from the ground around us glowing blue, causing us to instantly fall to the floor.

"_Miss Martian, Superboy, now!" _Aqualad ordered. Miss Martian using her abilities jerked the remote out of the apes hand and floated it quickly over her head allowing her to disable the pylons. We all stood up as Superboy made his entrance by smashing the wall behind the Brain and his ape revealing him in a torn shirt, with bite and claw marks. Beside him was a giant white wolf with bright yellow eyes clearly enhanced with Kobra Venom. It growled and then jumped at the ape knocking him down. The ape tried to get up but was kicked back by Kid. He began to shoot at Robin who swung at him on his grappling gun. Miss Martian lifted him up telepathically and then slammed him to the ground. I jumped from behind him and landed on the power back on his back. Superboy jumped at him but the ape jumped back causing me to flatter at his task. I held onto the pack with on hand and with my other threw another energy ball at his eyes. He stumbled back and I jumped off. "Now!"

Artemis shot an arrow on the back causing it to explode. She shot another and Robin threw a birdarang at it and caused it to explode completely. I turned to see Aqualad getting shot at with red lasers from the Brain which didn't affect him because of his glowing shield. I wrapped the robot in an energy shield and swung him around throwing him at the giant ape who easily caught his master and set him on the ground.

We slowing began to surround the two with the last ones showing up being Aqualad, Captain Marvel, and an enhanced tiger that had taken to the Captain. The ape looked around and once it saw we surrounded them he let out a roar that put us in defensive poses.

"Try it," Superboy growled as he cracked his knuckles, "I hate monkeys."

The monkey snarled and stepped towards him but was stopped by his master. "No, Mallah, this will not be our Waterloo," the robot said as it began to grow with red glowing structures sticking out. "Au revoir mes amis," he said as the lights began switching off.

"Get down," Kid yelled as we were enveloped in darkness.

We waited but nothing happened except for the lights coming back on. I looked around the room and saw they had escaped.

"Wait, that big weapon thing was just a…light switch?" Kid said confused we all looked at each other in confusion.

Robin, Captain Marvel and I watched as Aqualad de-collared the last of the animals. He finished the last one, another monkey who scampered off to join its friends.

"That's the last of the collars?" Captain Marvel asked the tiger, patting its back. It made a grumbling noise in agreement. "Can I count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" he asked of the animal which elicited similar response. "Good," Captain M said as he began scratching his neck, "I'll be back for a visit, I promise."

The tiger roared as it ran after the rest of the animals, "I think I'll call him Mr. Tawney." I bite my lip and shared a look of confusion with Aqualad at his childlike behavior. I shrugged and shook my head with a smirk. I walked over to the group of Miss Martian, Superboy, Kid, and the giant white wolf who seemed to be attached to Superboy.

"How's about Krypto?" Kid asked getting a growl in response from the wolf.

"Pass," Superboy said in agreement.

I walked up to the wolf who bent his head down to be eye level with me. I reached up and began scratching behind his ears causing him to lean into my touch. I giggled in response, "I always wanted a dog," I said with a smile, "But I think I like you better. You are a lot more intimidating, yet still just a giant teddy bear, just like your owner." I looked at Superboy who smiled at the small jab pointed towards him. We began walking towards the bio-ship and I noticed Robin had stopped Aqualad.

"Look I have to know," he said, "Why did you keep the mole intel a secret?"

Aqualad turned to the rest of the group and spotted me. I walked forward and joined him, "They need to know," I said with a nod.

He took a deep breath before addressing the group, "The source of the tip was Sportsmaster."

"WHAT?" Artemis exclaimed, "You can't trust him."

"We do not," Aqualad confirmed, "It seemed possible, even likely, that he was attempting to divide the team with false information."

"And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded," Robin agreed, "But you also had to consider that it might've been true too."

"Yes, as leaders, we did. In which case we both did not wish to alert the traitor," He said.

"We did it in an attempt to protect you from yourselves," I said, "We didn't want to you look at each other as a possible enemy, that's our job to worry about not yours."

Robin sighed, "I hate to say it but it makes sense," he said with a small grin.

"I am still prepared to step down," Aqualad said honestly and then turned to look at me, "But I wish for Blue Raven to stay at her position."

I looked at him with an eye roll, "Kaldur, my decision still stands regardless of what you wish, I stand with you always," I said with a small smile.

"All in favor of keeping Aqualad and Blue Raven as our leaders raise your hand?" Kid said and everyone raised their hands causing me to smile widely.

"Guess it's unanimous," Captain Marvel said and came to shake both our hands. "See you tomorrow," he said with a wave.

"Wait, you're not coming back with us?" Aqualad asked.

"Nope gotta fly," He said and he jumped into the sky and was out of sight in seconds.

"Captain Marvel is very odd," I said with pursed lips.

"Totally," Robin said with a nod and began walking into the ship.

I turned towards to wolf who was still right by Superboy. I walked up to him and scratched him on his neck. "So, Connor, he is so coming with us right?" I asked as the wolf began to lick my face causing me to laugh.

"Yes!" he said with a grin and patted the large white creature on its back.

"So what are you going to call him?" Miss Martian asked quietly.

"What's wrong with Wolf?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Generic, but acceptable," Kid said.

"And easy to remember," I said, "because something tells me we are going to have a lot of memories with you." the wolf growled in response and licked my face again before following his new owner into the bio- ship.

Aqualad was the last one left as he stared sadly at the ground. I grabbed his hand and he turned to look at me. "Hey, what are you thinking about?"

He shrugged and squeezed my hand, "It is nothing."

I was about to protest but went against it. "Come on let's go home."

**a week later...**

"Shit," I said as I began bouncing on one foot putting on my shoe. I finally got it on and finished putting on my blazer before rushing over to the sink and spitting out the toothpaste and finished brushing my teeth. I wiped my face and put on a light shade of lipstick before throwing it into my purse. I ran out my room and ran into Dinah and Oliver standing in the kitchen with cups of coffee. I ran and kissed them both on the cheek and ran out the door with them yelling good luck. I ran to the nearest zeta tube and arrived at the cave to find the team grinning at me.

"Ohh," Wally said with a whistle, "Didn't realize you'd looked that good in business wear, Car."

"You're adorable, Wally, but I am running late and I'm pretty sure I am about to have a panic attack," I said warily. "Who knew I'd laugh at villains shooting at me but a simple interview and I'm freaking terrified?" I said darkly.

"Hey you'll do fine," M'gann said as she placed her hands on my shoulders. "If anyone deserves this, it's you."

"You're obligated to say that," I said with a huge breath.

"Yeah, but she's telling the truth," Artemis said.

"Yeah, you totally have this in the bag," Robin said with an encouraging smirk.

I let out a huge breath and shook my clammy hands, "You're right I got this," I said unconvincingly.

Kaldur came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Calm down," he ordered quietly.

I breathed in and out until my breathing was at an even pace. "Okay, I'm calm," I said grabbing his hand. "Why am I so terrified?"

"It will change things," he said softly, "You feel you are not ready."

"But you are," Superboy said, "You got this."

I nodded, "I got this," I said again, this time more convincing.

"Yeah, you do," Artemis said, "Now leave before you're late."

I looked at my watch, "Yeah, I have to go," I looked back up at them, "No matter what happens I am always here, guys remember that," I said as I squeezed Kaldur's hand once more before releasing it and letting it fall to his side.

"Yeah, yeah we know," Wally said, "Now go."

"Alright," I said as I ran to the zeta tubes. I turned around on more time, "I love you guys. I'll see you later."

My interview went by in a flash and I didn't even remember half of the questions they asked. They gave no indication of how it went and simply said I'd hear from them in a week's time through the mail. I walked into the cave exhausted and found only Kaldur was there on the couch watching TV. He jumped up from his spot and walked towards me.

"How did it go?" he asked as he got closer.

I shrugged, "They didn't show any indication, I'll know in a week," I said as I walked into his opened arms. "You had no idea how bad I wanted to do this, this morning," I said as I nuzzled his chest eliciting a small laugh from him. I looked up at him and place my chin on his chest as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "What it's not my fault your hugs are so comforting and warm," I said as I nuzzled his chest, "Plus you always smell like salt water it makes me feel like I'm always at the beach."

"I believe I share the sentiment," he said as he laid his head on top of my head, "You always smell of peaches and green tea."

I pulled back and looked at him with an amused expression, "We are so weird," I stated with a smile.

He shrugged, "I would not like it to be any other way," he said as he placed a light kiss on my lips.

**_So yeah ...that's a thing. had to throw some kind of present in there to make me look less mainstream. So Miss Martian and Artemis know now and eventually Connor...who else is going to find out? oh and aren't they just so stinking cute!_**


	15. Chapter 15

**_Okay...so a lot of people have commented on how bossy Carter is and how she is a bit of a "know it all"...not mad but you're kind of stating the obvious because she's supposed to be. I don't know if y'all remember the explanation about one of her powers but her mind processes at an increasingly fast rate with the information she is given and what she observes. She is going to notice things before other people, so she's more of a "knows it already" she's going to tell them her thoughts because she's a part of the team and because she's a leader. also she's a leader she's supposed to bossy. Kaldur is the calm cool and collective leader...Carter is the shit caller who will call you out on your behavior if she thinks it will jeopardize the mission...also one of the main reasons why Kaldur made her his second in command. Hope this kind of explains why Carter is like this._**

**_Now that my little rant is out of the way enjoy Chapter 15!_**

_**Recognized Blue Raven B04**_

I walked into the room feeling dejected once again. My letter still hadn't come and I was getting anxious. I looked up and saw that Kaldur and Robin were sparing and they were pretty evenly matched. I saw on the other side of the room, Captain Marvel and Zatara stood observing. I watched the match as it ended with a draw, I walked towards the boys just as M'gann and Connor walked in smiling at each other with Wolf trailing behind. Once the big white beast spotted me I trotted up to me and rubbed its head against my arm. "Hello, Wolf," I said with a laugh as I began to scratch his head.

"Still no letter?" Robin asked.

"No," I said with a shrug, "There's always tomorrow."

Our eyes trailed to the couple and we all smiled as they laughed and leaned closer to one another. Robin leaned in, "You know they're a couple right?"

"I believe I knew before they did," he said with a sideways glance at me.

I nodded, "It happened while they were undercover," I said with a grin as I began to scratch down Wolf's back causing his muscles to twitch every once in a while. I blinked up to the hallway to see Wally and Artemis walking beside each other looking annoyed, "Who's going to tell them?"

"It's not our place," Kaldur said as he saw a smirking Robin.

The pair walked up to us. "So if Zatara's our babysitter for the week why is he still here? And why is he eating my snacks," Wally complained as he thumb pointed to Captain Marvel behind him.

"Hmm, I don't know maybe it's because everyone's first choice when looking in the cupboards when hungry is chocolate," I said with a shrug, "Hide them next time and maybe we won't eat them."

"Wait, come on, Gorgeous, you had one of my candy bars?" Wally whined.

"Call me Gorgeous one more time and I steal the rest of them and kick your ass in sparring," I said with a smirk, "I'd gladly like to slam you into the floor for the second day in a row."

"Really, Car, come on don't steal my snacks!"

_**Recognized Batman B02**_

"Computer, National News," he ordered and immediately a holograph appeared showing the peppy blonde national news anchorwoman Cat Grant with images of Metropolis flashing behind her with buildings being attacked by giant green vines.

"The initial attack was short lived. But Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve. And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."

"Should we get out there?" Robin asked his mentor.

"No, the League will soon have the situation under control, but that's not why I'm here," Batman said facing us. "According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus Blockbuster formula to Kobra."

"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra Venom," Wally confirmed with a nod.

"Which the Brain used to create his army," Robin said.

"And to upgrade Wolf," Connor said scratching Wolf's head.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars," M'gann said, "Like the ones used at Belle Reve penitentiary."

"Batman, is it possible that plant thingy is on Kobra Venom too?" Artemis stepped forward asking nervously.

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis," Batman said as he typed on the holographic keyboard and pulled up the results, "the vine's cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant."

"It's all connected," I said quietly causing everyone to turn and look at me. "This is just too many coincidences stacking up. They are sharing information with each other, like it's a huge system. It used to be like a giant gossip ring now they are sharing information about us and now enhancement drugs. I mean this has to be Poison Ivy's vines, she's the only one I can think of that arms herself with huge psychotic plants."

"Agreed, unrelated criminals working world wide is highly suspicious," Kaldur said with a small smirk my way.

I smiled and looked back at Batman as he spoke, "Exactly. It's now clear that our enemies have formed a kind of Secret Society of Super Villains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

"Wait, if it is Poison Ivy's vines, why is she attacking Metropolis instead of Gotham?" I pointed out disproving my own theory.

Robin how I realized had been typing on a keyboard of his own pulled up several images, "You are both right, plant creatures have also sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, and Taipei," he said. Then all the screens went static. We all turned to look at the Boy Wonder.

"Dude," Wally stage whispered at him.

"It's not me," He said as his hands flew across the keyboard at an amazing speed, "Somebody's cutting the satellite signal. All satellite signals."

Just then the screen cleared up and showed the face of everyone's 'favorite' clown criminal, "Seriously it had to be a clown?" I asked. "I _hate_ clowns."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement," Joker said with a creepy smile as he pulled out a switch blade and turned the camera to a group of criminals, "From the In-justice League."

The camera began to zoom in on villain in all green, "We are responsible for the attacks on your cities. If you wish to save them a ransom of ten billion American Dollars will be required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit but the longer your government waits…."

Joker's hand appeared in front of the lens and turned it back to him, "The more we get to have our jollies!" he exclaimed and let out a very creepy cackle. The screens went static once again and I let out an involuntary shiver. "Gah, evil creepy clown!"

"You got that right," Wally said in agreement.

Batman put a hand up to his com, "Roger that, Aquaman. The UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback but it won't come to that."

Robin was quickly rewinding the footage and began a facial recognition on the members on the In-justice League. "Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan," he listed off, "Seven heavy hitters. Probably behind nearly everything and everyone we've faced."

"There's your secret society," Wally muttered.

"Not so secret anymore," Artemis muttered.

"Perhaps after India, they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer," Kaldur said from my side put I shook my head.

"No, I think this a diversion," I said causing everyone in the room to look at me, "I mean I don't know if it's just the Joker that's freaking me out but I'm thinking if I was a villain and we were setting up our own organization I wouldn't want anyone of them to run it. Sure some of them are smart enough, but they don't think logically, they think biasedly or sporadically. They all want destruction in the quickest way possible. I would want my leaders to have a bigger picture, a plan that would use villains to distract the Justice League for months or even years so we could work on our goal without the unwanted attention. I think the real heads are using them as a cover make everyone suspect that the society was taken down when in fact it is still operating right under everyone's false sense of security." I shrugged, "Then again, the villains could also just be that cocky and stupid to reveal their leaders."

"Yeah, well either way, that was their mistake," Wally said punching his fist into his palm, "Right now I say we go and kick some plant creature butt."

"The Justice League will handle the plants, I have a a different job for this team," Batman said crushing the young speeder's spirits.

"Aww, man," he wined and then Artemis hit him in the shoulder, "Ow!"

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it."

I gave him a confused look, "Does that mean what it think it means?" I asked getting partially excited.

"You realize what you're really asking them to do," Zatara said concerned.

"They're ready."

I looked at Kaldur and grinned. Then my smile dropped when I heard Wally complaining, "Ready? Ready for what?" Artemis slapped him in the arm again, "Ow would you cut that—"

"Hello Wally," Artemis said sarcastically, "If the big guns are fighting plants who do you think we'll be fighting?"

"I don't know I guess—" she stopped him by pointing to the screen which still held the paused video. "Ohhhhh."

"Well, Batman, I trust you are correct," the magician said with a hint of sarcasm.

"I trust you can locate the enemy," Batman snapped back.

"Indeed, Wotan's involvement suggest that sorcery is part of how plants are controlled," He confirmed, "Robin, if you could provide a holo map?" The Boy Wonder typed on the keyboard and produced a holographic image of a globe. "I'll search for signs of concentrated sorcerer's activity."

Zatara stepped towards the image and held his hands up, "Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!" he yelled that out and within seconds a little blinking red dot appeared on a location in lower United States. "That is where you will find the Injustice League's central control system."

"Coordinates locked in, the Louisiana Bayou," Robin confirmed.

"We are on our way," Kaldur said and we began running to the hanger.

We were getting close to the location and I was excited. This was the first mission I was able to finally use my new weapons. BC didn't think I would need them on the missions before since they were all mostly observe and report. But this time we were expected to fight so I found them in my station on the bio ship and I had squealed like a little girl.

I held up my utility belt and looked at in wonder, "Early Merry Christmas to me!"

"Are those you weapons that Canary and Arrow were talking about?" Artemis asked.

"Oh yeah," I said as I pulled out one of the two guns in the side holsters. I opened the clip and pulled out one of the ammo, "Stunner bullets, give the effect of a gunshot but not actually using a bullet, effects last for ten minutes enough for me to manually take them down." I put it back in the clip and snapped it into the gun and pulled out a throwing knife, "Solid alloy stainless steel throwing knives with a sedative ingrained in a hidden compartment that activates when it comes in contact with blood," I stared at it wonder and I put it back into the belt and clipped on. "Bad guys beware, this girl is weaponized and ready to kick you can!" Everyone laughed as we all sat down and departed.

That was an hour ago now we were anxious and ready to prove that we can do this. Everyone was doing their various little quirks. Robin was buffing his already clean birdarangs. Miss Martian was hard core piloting the ship manuals when she could have just as easily put it on auto pilot. Artemis was prepping her arrows while glaring at Kid Flash who was eating fruit. I kept alternating between people watching, petting wolf when he walked over, and taking a part and rebuilding one of my guns. The only one who looked sort of calm was Aqualad who just sat back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What's in the duffle?" Kid asked after taking a bite of his banana.

"Plan B," he said and turned back to the front of the ship avoiding my gaze.

I was about to comment when Miss Martian made a noise that turned everyone in the ship around in concern. "You alright?" Superboy asked her as she placed her head in her hand.

"Ugh. Dizzy," she responded with a slight groan.

"Martians get air sick?" Robin asked in confusion from behind me.

"She does look a bit greener than usual," Kid muttered.

"Not me," Miss M said shaking her head, "Her!"

Artemis and I looked at each other, "I feel fine," Artemis said and I shrugged in response.

"Not you two, the bio-ship. She's trying to shield us but—"

Just then I noticed a change in the atmosphere I turned to look outside and noticed the ship was no longer in camouflage mode. "Brace yourselves!" I yelled as I notices a human figure jump up and go to punch the bottom of the ship. The impact twisted us in the sky and made us head straight down towards the bayou causing us to crash. I recovered first and unbuckled myself and checked on Miss Martian who took both her and her ship's hits.

"Are you alright?" I asked her as something began to grab the ship from the outside rocking it from side to side. Then Black Adam punched a hole in the roof and tore it open.

"He's hurting her!" she exclaimed with her head in her hand.

I shot and an energy disc at him and it startled him long enough for Superboy to jump up and punch him in the face causing him to fly away and whatever else that was restraining the ship to pull us in.

"No! No way am I nearly drowning three missions in a row," Artemis said as she pulled out three re-breathers tossing one to me and handing the other to Kid who took it with a smile and a thanks.

I dived underwater and followed Aqualad and Robin who were at the bottom of the ship. I looked up to see Miss Martian dive down with gills on her neck. With a wave of her hand a large hole opened at the bottom of the ship.

"_Out! Everyone out!"_ Aqualad ordered telepathically. We all swam out of the hole and quickly swam to shore. I took the rebreather out of my mouth and put it in a pouch on the belt. We all ran to the trees and watched as bio ship got taken into the water by huge vines.

"She's in shock," Miss Martian informed us, "She'll need time to recove-ahh!"

Everyone fell to the ground as waves of high pitched frequencies hit our ears. I tried to ignore it and search for something I had saw earlier in one of my compartments.

"Vertigo!" Kid spat out wincing.

"Count Vertigo to you peasant," he spat down at him and stopped his attack. I finally found what I was looking for and placed them in my ears. I stood up wobbly and aim my gun at him. "Don't move," I said as Superboy stood up beside me.

Black Adam quickly came from now where and attacked Superboy knocking him back into a few trees. "Oh another little bird, what are you going to do girl shoot me?" Count said tauntingly.

"Um, yeah," I said and then in one move I shifted the gun and shot him in the leg.

He collapsed on the ground and I jumped over my teammates. I landed on one foot and with my other I swung up and kicked him in the face flinging him onto his back. Aqualad came up behind me and shot him with whips of water landing the Count somewhere in the tree line.

"_Robin, Miss Martian, Blue Raven, disappear. We will keep them busy. You three will fulfill the mission objective."_ Aqualad ordered.

I turned to him ready to defy him but once I saw his expression it was no use. With a sigh I took the plugs out of my ears and dropped them in his hands. "_They should muffle the effects of the all high pitched frequencies, a gift from Canary," _I said mentally then I turned and ran to catch up with the others, "_I'll be wanting those back, later, Water Boy."_

I turned to look over my shoulder and saw him getting punched from the side by Black Adam. I began to slow down but Robin stopped me, "_No, they will be fine, we need to go Carter!"_

With a growl I began to run and with jump off a small cliff I formed an energy disc and glided right besides and invisible Miss Martian.

"_I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others. Should we—" _Miss Martian stated after ten minutes of walking.

"_Sorry that's not the gig, this is!"_ Robin cut her off as he pulled a branch away and revealed a huge glass dome that resembled a large green house. Only difference was it look incredibly depressing and evil and had a giant plant sticking out from the top.

"_The Injustice League central control system,"_ I stated with a sigh I turned and looked at Miss Martian, "_It's what they would want us to do. Once we take this down we will go find them."_

_ "Looks like that plant is acting as an antenna to control the other plants worldwide," _Robin stated.

"_Well how about we got scramble their signa—"_ I got stopped short by a giant vine wrapping around me and the others as they hoisted us in the air.

"Well hello," Poison Ivy said as she came into view. Ultra Humanite appeared and landed behind her and aimed his gun. "And goodbye…"

"_Miss Martian, aim his gun at the roots!"_ I exclaimed. Her eyes began to glow red and the gunshot at the target. The vines began to fall from us and we split up. Miss Martian and I ran away with the giant ape creature following after us. "_Get ready!" _I said as I took a gun out its holster and stopped and aimed it at Ultra Humanite. I shot of four rounds causing him to stop in his tracks. Miss Martian levitated him in the air and slammed him into various trees. I formed and energy disc in my other hand and shot it at his hand finally knocking him unconscious.

"Find Robin," I said aloud. Her eyes flashed green for a second before she began to fly while I followed on foot.

"_Robin, Raven, she's made contact,"_ Miss Martian said as she took out the remaining vines.

"_Artemis_?" Robin asked as we all looked up to see a floating yellow cage.

"_No_," she grinned as we saw Bio-ship come up behind the cage and knock Wotan out of the sky. The gold cage dissolved and our teammates began falling out of the sky.

"_You guys go! I'll help them!" _I telepathically ordered as I formed and large energy disc and flew high into the air. I began catching the other and placing them on the ground until I was hit from behind. I was knocked off my disk and fell to muddy ground and was helped up by Superboy. I turned and growled as I saw Ultra Humanite.

"You're going to pay for that!" I yelled as I pulled out some knives and began throwing them at him he hit them out of the way thing his gun and I began shooting at him with energy discs. One even hit his gun and sliced the metal in half. He was momentarily stunned when he aimed his gun and half of it wasn't there causing Superboy to get and effective hit in.

"I hate monkeys!" he yelled as he landed another hit. I turned around and took out both my guns as I saw Count Vertigo and Black Adam standing together as they slowed down a now disoriented Kid Flash and the later punched him away. I began shooting at them causing Count to fall yet again but they didn't seem to faze Black Adam as he began charging at me. I put my guns in my holsters and put my palms out in front of me forming a shield just in time for him to collide with me and fling me back and hit me into a tree. Before I could fall he was there and had me by the neck. "_Help! Hel—"_

"My babies!" Poison Ivy exclaimed as he stopped her assault on Aqualad and Artemis. Black Adam released his hold only to pull me to his chest and hold me by my throat and torso.

I began to struggle as someone gave the order to kill the rest of the Team. The other members of the Injustice League engaged them until Wotan began knocking us out with a strike of something similar to lightning. Black Adam released me and I dropped to the ground. I was struck and everything went black. I woke up a couple of minutes later to Black Canary waking me up.

"Blue Raven, wake up!" I opened my eyes and looked at my mentor. I panicked and pushed her away and jumped to my feet. "You're fine everyone is alright."

I rubbed my neck and looked to see the Justice League had arrived. I walked over to them team and noticed someone was missing, "Where is Aqualad?" I croaked out.

They all looked down except for Kid who stared at something in the sky. I almost collapsed to the ground. "No! No, no, you fricking idiot!" I exclaimed as I approached him. Aqualad had put on the helmet and now he was Doctor Fate.

"What were you thinking?" Wally yelled from behind me at the team, "How could you let him put on the helmet! Nabu will never release him now…Kaldur will be trapped inside Dr. Fate… forever."

I shook my head, "No, no, please, Nabu, please release him," I begged as I approached him as he began to float to the ground, "I have lost so many people I care about, please, please, don't let me lose him too."

Dr. Fate did not respond and then he lifted his hands to the helmet and flash of gold revealed Kaldur. I let out a sob and tackled him. "YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" I yelled as I punched him a couple of times on his chest before I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I almost lost you!" I said as I sobbed into his shoulder.

"I am here, Carter, I will never leave," he said fiercely as he wrapped his arm around my torso and pulled me to him.

"Nabu let you go?" Kid asked from behind me.

"He almost did not," Aqualad causing me to pulled away and look at him, "But your friend Kent was most helpful. He says hello."

The rest of the Team rushed up and greeted him, but the commotion stopped when Batman cleared his throat. "We're done here. The super-secret villain society has been neutralized. As for your performance…..it was satisfactory."

We all grinned and at each other before another throat cleared. I turned and my face fell at the sight of Green Arrow and Black Canary. I looked up at Kaldur who looked slightly paled. He handed off the helmet to Kid and we approached them with our hands intertwined between us.

"When did this happen?" Black Canary said with a quirked eyebrow.

"The night of the private mission with Roy," I said back monotone. "Look if you are going to yell at us can it not be in front of the Team, Justice League, and the villains?"

They looked at one another and then turned to us, "You won't be punished or yelled at just because you finally decided to add onto your personal life," she started, "But understand that we will be putting boundaries in place."

"Also, don't do stuff like that again," Green Arrow said glaring at Kaldur, "You hurt her and I can guarantee I will be less one arrow and Aquaman will have to deal with a skewered protégé."

"Arrow, I appreciate the 'protective daddy' thing but I can handle it. Now that you have given your threat and you quote unquote approval, we are going to leave-"

"I wasn't finished-" Oliver started.

"Don't you have like villains to bring to a prison?"

They both looked at each other and looked at me, "We will discuss this later at home, which you will be coming to tonight," Dinah said making me blush furiously.

"Oh my god, please just leave!" I exclaimed and looked at the group of other mentors, "Can you please send them on a mission or something?"

"Come along, Arrow, BC," Flash said amusingly, "Let them to have their fun, you were that way once."

"Okay, yep, this is where we depart," I said as I looked over at them Team and saw their amused faces, "Help us!" I mouthed to them and M'gann with a smiled summoned the bio-ship.

"Oh look our ride is here!" I exclaimed as I grabbed Kaldur's hand and dragged him along to the bio-ship, "Love you, got to go, see you later, bye!"

The rest of the team got on laughing, and I glared at them, "That was so not funny, I hate all of you," I said in mock anger. Kaldur laughed besides me and I glared at him. "Can we make a pact that, that damn helmet will be a last, last resort?" I grumbled as I glared at the gold helmet in Wally's hands.

"I agree," he said setting the thing on his station as he sat in his chair. Wally swung around with an evil smirk on his face, "So, fearless leaders, when did this become a thing?"

I sat in my chair curling up into a ball and faced away from him, "Wally, I swear, you're getting closer and closer to getting thrown into a wall with every word you say right now. On second thought I could always just shoot you."

"I knew it was going to happen eventually," Robin said cockily, "You guys acted to couple-y."

"I can shoot you too, Boy Wonder," I said.

"Actually, I'd probably save those to protect Kaldur here from Roy," he said with a smirk.

"Oh no," I said as I hit my forehead, "I forgot about him. He's going to shoot you!" I exclaimed in horror, as I spun around and looked at Kaldur.

"I disbelieve that my friend would harm me because I am in a relationship with his old partner," Kaldur said confused.

"Eh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Wally said taking a bite out of an apple, "He broke the jaw of the last guy who just flirted with her as Carter, think of what he'll do to you since you're one of his best friends and know how protective he is of her."

"Oh, we are so dead," I whined as I took off my mask and rubbed my face. "You just had to put that damn helmet on!"

**_So Carter is finally acting like an actual teenager...scary right? Just kidding, hope you liked it. pay attention to the that cute little review box...please! and thank you_**


	16. Chapter 16

_**So hey you guys some one brought it to my attention today about that ages on Carter's family specifically her mom and i realized several things. 1. reviewer mantale3 you were right those were the wrong ages so they have been corrected. 2. I don't know how to count so the new ages are Johanna was 28 when she died, Jackson was ten, and Cassie is still four.**_

_**WARNING I UPDATED THIS CHAPTER! REREAD! new stuff in bold**_

This week Black Canary was our "babysitter" and at first it was pretty aggravating. She would barely let me or Kaldur out of her sights and I was getting really pissed...then she let me hit stuff or in this case people which made it better. Since I couldn't hit a broken armed Wally, hitting his best friend was the next best thing. Today we were group sparring, I was paired with Boy Wonder. Artemis was taking on Connor and M'gann was fighting Kaldur all the while Wally was getting waited on hand and foot by Captain Marvel.

I missed a punch in the face by Robin and grabbed his hand as it swung by my head and flipped him in the ground. "Come on, Robin, give me something to work with," I taunted as helped him up. He responded by flipping me a similar way onto the ground.

"Haha, how's that for—" he began to taunt back but I kicked him planting both of my feet on his sternum and pushed him back several feet. I somersaulted myself up and grinned as I got in a defensive position.

"You were saying?" I taunted back. He came charging at me and began landing blows which I easily blocked. He tried to do a vertical round house but I caught his foot mid-flight and threw him back causing him to flip several times before finally landing.

"Nice one," he said in approval.

"Nice attempt at making the fight on your own terms, however, I have a lot more experience than you'd think in that field," I said with a smile.

"That's because you're stubborn and like to get grounded very often," Black Canary said with a smirk of her own. "Good work everyone," she said as we gathered together. "In fact it has been a very productive week."

"Yeah, for everyone except Kid Malingerer," Artemis said with a smirk as we all looked towards the speedster, who was mid sip of his juice.

"Hey! Arm broken in combat against the evil Injustice League here," Wally said waving around his casted arm.

"Yeah, yeah, just wait until I get you on this mat, Kid Mouth. I'll show you how I feel about that smack you keep talking," I said with a grin.

Black Canary and I exchanged looks of amusement before she shook her head, "You sure do have my attitude for someone who isn't my kid," she said as placed a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged and gave her a smile, "Well when you beat me up for hours on end I had to develop some characteristics of you. I just so happened to get your attitude, Ollie's sarcasm, and Roy's bad temper." I visibly shivered, "Oh criminals beware of the deadly triple threat."

She shook her head at me and then looked at the rest of the group, "I've really enjoyed being your….den mother this week."

_**Recognized Zatara 11**_

The magician walked out the zeta tube and walked toward the holograph keyboard attached.

_**Access Granted Zatanna Zatara A03 Authorization Zatara 11**_

I squealed and ran over to the zeta tube as my old childhood friend walked out, "Z!" I exclaimed as I ran over and embraced the girl.

"Carter!" she said back with just as much enthusiasm. "I haven't seen you in years!"

I shot her a guilty look. "I'm sorry with the hero thing and college, I barely have time to sleep. But hopefully since you're here that means a certain someone might let you eventually be on the team?" I ended as a question and looked to her father.

He looked like he wanted me to disappear for even suggesting it, however, he answered cordially, "We will see how it goes." He turned gestured towards the Team, "Zatanna, this is the team. Team, this is my daughter Zatanna."

M'gann stepped forward excitedly to greet Zatanna, "Hi, I'm—"

"Robin," the Boy Wonder said stepping in front of her, "I mean, I'm Robin. She's M'gann. And this is Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, and Connor. And you already know Carter."

"Welcome to the cave," Kaldur said with a small smile.

"Ugh, thanks," she said nervously.

"So are y-y-you joining the team?" Robin asked stumbling over his words.

Her father took off his hat while he shook his head, "Now, now, let's not get a head of ourselves," he said in desperation, "This is strictly a visit, but I am sorry we missed the training," he said directed at Black Canary, "It's something from which Zatanna could benefit."

He and Black Canary began starting a conversation and the Team started one of our own.

_"Do the rest of you still get the feeling that we're still on probation with Zatara?" M'gann asked._

_ "Not just Zatara, I mean, why is Marvel still hanging around," Superboy pointed out as a he nodded towards the direction the kitchen where the mentioned leaguers was._

_ "Because we like having him around," Wally said smirking._

_ "You like having him around because he waits on you hand and foot," Artemis said placing her hands on her hips._

_ "And your point is?" Wally responded with._

_ I rolled my eyes, "Guys not necessarily, Zatara has always been protective of Zatanna ever since his wife died. The only reason why I know her is because I was the only girl. I couldn't even tell Roy about her when we went to hang out at her house."_

_ "It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tern here as our supervisor," Aqualad said. _

_ "Yeah, I could definitely deal without Canary watching our every move," I told him in agreement, "You know she volunteered for this, next week is Green Arrow, no doubt she will be here too."_

_ "Yeah, at least Red Tornado trusted us," Robin said with a pout. _

_ "If you ignore the fact that we should have trusted him!" Superboy said angrily, "That machine nearly got M-all of us killed!"_

_ "Connor," I said in a warning tone, "We know but it may not have been his fault."_

"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Zatanna asked from my side causing us to all look at her, "'Cause I can't decide if that's cool….or really rude."

There was a tense pause as we all looked towards the two Leaguers in the room. "Alright, fine!" Connor snapped, "We were talking about tornado. It's been weeks since his attack and the League hasn't told us anything."

My mentor sighed, "The League is searching for tornado, as well as the other androids that attacked the cave and their creator T.O. Morrow, Batman has made tracking them down our highest priority."

"But you've found none of the above," Robin pointed out.

"Not yet," Black Canary said stepping forward, "But Tornado is Justice League. The team is _not_ to pursue this."

"Fine, how about we give Zatanna a tour of the cave while you two…_chat_," I suggested.

"I was just going to suggest that," Zatara said nervously as he saw Zatanna playing with Wolf on the floor.

"You're giving a tour? Cool," Captain Marvel said as he walked in carrying a plate of nachos. I turned and gave Connor a look he gave a slight nod.

"Actually I was hoping you could take Wolf outside," Connor said as Wolf immediately jumped up and began admiring the food in the Leaguer's hands. "He needs the exercise. We'll join you in a few."

"Sure, sure! I can do that. Come on, Wolf," the two ran outside with the nachos.

"My-my nachos," Wally whined as I pulled him by the back of his shirt to follow the others.

Once we were out of sight and ear shot of the leaguers, I turned to the group as we ended up in the kitchen. "We're not really taking a tour are we?" Zatanna asked after she had changed quietly behind the rest of the group from her innocent school girl look into a tank top and pants. I smirked as the group stopped and turned to look at her.

"I did say she was my friend growing up," I pointed out, "She had to be a little bit mischievous for us to get along."

"No! We're hunting down that robot," Connor said.

"Yes, we are," Kaldur said with a nod.

"Oh wow, out loud and everything," Zatanna said sarcastically.

"Uh…. What about the new girl?" Artemis asked.

"I'm sure she won't tell," Robin said with a smile.

Zatanna turned and looked at him with a mischievous grin, "I can't tell, not if you kidnap me."

"Oh she's going to fit in great," Artemis said with a smile.

"It's good to have you back, Z," I said with a smirk of my own. "Hopefully your Dad lets you be on the team, you know, after he kills you."

We all loaded up into the bio-ship and took off. Only seconds later to be called by Black Canary.

"M'gann, the bio-ship was not authorized for departure."

"We're kidnapping Zatanna," M'gann said in a high pitched voice. I glared at her, "To show her Happy Harbour, be back soon."

Canary paused for a second, "Roger that….have _fun_."

M'gann hung up with my mentor and I let out a groan.

"That was a close one," I told them.

"So where are we going? Batman is the world's greatest detective and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location. If we are going to do better we need an illogical solution. A completely dumb idea," Robin said turning in his chair to look back at Wally.

Everyone else turned as well, "Go for it, Wally," I said.

"It is your expertise," Artemis said with a smirk.

"As a matter of fact," Wally started causing us all to grin.

That lead us to where we are now, Belle Reve Penitentiary in one of their interrogation rooms with Ivo, another android creator.

"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break. He's given us five minutes with you," Miss Martian informed a small middle aged man.

"Spill it Ivo," Superboy ordered, "How do we find T.O. Morrow and his Reds?"

"Now why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?" Ivo said in a bored tone.

"Because and here's a truly dumb idea," Kid Flash said stepping forward, "You're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game. Who better could keep track of what he's up to and where?"

"Ah, I see your point, so let me rephrase," he said twiddling his thumbs as he leaned forward in his chair, "Why in the world would I tell you how to find Morrow?"

I gave Aqualad a look to which he responded with a nod and turned to look at Miss Martin, "He knows, do what you must."

Miss Martian's eyes began to grow green, but Ivo just sat back in his chair and laughed, "Oh please! As if I've never faced a telepath before."

I looked at Zatanna nodded and walked towards the little man. "Hello Ivo," I said nicely as I leaned on the table next to him, "You know I greatly admire your work, it's quite fascinating."

"Haha, cute little girl, flattery will get you _nowhere_."

"Aww that's cute how you think you know everything," I said in the same tone you would use to talk to a child that was annoying you. I acted fast I grabbed the pressure point in his neck and grabbed him by his wrist and twisted his hand to an odd angle. "I'm just the insurance policy."

I looked to up see Zatanna right beside me, with a nod from me she leaned forward, "Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol!"

"Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park one hundred meters south of Old Faithful."

Everyone looked shocked including Ivo himself, "Thank you," I said sweetly as I let him go.

"Wait. what just happened?" he asked as he covered his mouth in horror.

"Flattery," I said with a smile and a shrug. "Looks like it did get us somewhere. Oh look, our five minutes are up, it was just lovely chatting with you."

The Team filed out to the bio ship and began heading for Yellowstone. Aqualad turned to Miss Martian, "Block out all external communication. Black Canary, Zatara, Batman too I imagine will know of our visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

"Look I'm trying to be all nonchalant here," Robin said looking at Zatanna smirking.

"Why? Be as chalant as you like," She said with a smirk. I turned and looked at Kid with a smirk.

"I think we are all just trying to get a handle on your powers," Artemis said cutting into their flirtatious moment. "Could you teleport us to Tornado, or Morrow to a cell, or force his bots to surrender?"

"Or create world peace for all time?" Zatanna asked in a sarcastic tone, "Zatara couldn't even do that, and I'm nowhere near or on my dad's level. I need to know a spell cold, or at least have time to prep it. Plus all magic requires energy which usually has to come from within. I can't just make the impossible happen at will."

"What's our ETA on Yellowstone?" Superboy growled out, "I am way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."

"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Aqualad asked.

"Aren't you!"

"Honestly, Superboy, not really," I said calmly causing him to turn in his seat and glare at me, "I am think about how actually fragile he is? All it takes is a certain super virus or an overload and he can become anyone's puppet. I mean I'm surprised Robin hasn't tried to control him once or twice just for the hell of it. Of course his creator would easily be able to take control over him."

"Agreed, he may be the victim of his creator's programming," Aqualad said in agreement, "Certainly he deserves the chance to prove he is more than the weapon others designed him to be."

"Just as I and you have," I said looking directly at Superboy causing him to become sullen and look out the weapon.

The rest of the ride was moderately quiet except for the two flirting in the front quietly. When we landed Aqualad immediately ordered everyone to go stealth mode. I just stood in my place since I technically already was in stealth mode with my already black suit. The others began filing off of the ship one by one leaving Aqualad, Zatanna, and myself. We both looked at each other before looking at the girl who stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

Aqualad stepped forward, "I recommend you stay behind."

"Is that an order?" she said in her usual defiant tone.

"No," he said with a shake of his head, "You must do as you see fit."

"Good," she said with a smug smile. She placed her hands over head and began to chant some phrases that caused her outfit to turn into a female version of her dad's. I stepped towards her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"He is true, you are your own person, but just for clarity. Once we leave this ship, I am no longer your friend Carter, I am one of your leaders and what either of us says goes," I said in a defiant tone of my own. She looked at me and gave me a nod.

"Understood, Blue Raven."

"Good, now let's go join the Team, we have business to deal with."

We met the team outside and began to follow behind Robin who had the projected area of where T.O. Morrow's secret hid out was on his holo computer. We ran through the forest of the park until we finally reached it. Robin analyzed the land below us and turned to look at us with a grin. "Ivo was right, there's something down there."

"We'll scout the area," I ordered, "They have to get in and out somehow."

We all walked to a large clearing and were about to begin the search to find any sort of entrance when a huge gust of wind knocked us all several feet back. I went to get up and saw there were words written in the ground. I got up from the ground and looked to see Red Tornado floating in air thanks to a twister circling his lower body.

"Why Tornado? Why are you doing this?" Miss Martian asked as a series of red tinted tornados began to create a wall around us. "_Message received_?" she asked through a mental link.

"Who cares why? Let's nail him!" Superboy shouted.

Aqualad appeared behind him, "Superboy, maneuver 7!" he ordered. Superboy turned around and cupped his hands. Aqualad stepped in them and was launched towards Tornado. The "ex" hero punched him and the force of the hit causes him to collide with Superboy knocking them "out". I began forming and throwing energy balls but was unfortunately "taken out" by a miniature twister and landed on the ground. I laid still as the rest of the team fell to the ground one by one pretending to be unconscious as we waited to see just what plan Red Tornado had in store for us.

We all laid on the ground as another android appeared, "Quite a performance, Brother," the new red colored machine praised. "But we both know that's all it was. I have all of you memories tornado and a next gene processor. I know your next move before you do." We all sat up and say the huge mass of grass and land that showed the message "PLAY DEAD" etched into it. "Pfft! Blowing a message into the sand."

He went to throw the huge mass at us and Superboy and Kaldur jumped and broke it into smaller pieces. I shielded everyone on the ground with a huge energy shield while Miss Martian telepathically threw them away from us. some pieces still got through and caused a dust cloud to form once they impacted the ground.

"_Zatanna!" _Robin called telepathically in alarm.

"_I'm good, but Red Tornado is getting away!"_ she exclaimed causing some of us to look at the sky where he was travelling away from the fight.

"_Wait is he abandoning us?" _Artemis exclaimed as she charged at the new red android with bow and arrow ready in hand.

"_I don't believe that!" _Miss Martian said as she flew at our attacker.

"You stand no chance against me humans!" the red android said as he slapped away Kid Flash to the ground.

"WE ARE NOT HUMAN!" Superboy and Miss Martian both yelled at him.

"Apologizes. I suppose the properly inclusive term is," he paused as to structures form out underneath them out the earth in the shape of giant hands slapped together and crumbled to the ground with the two with it. "Meat-bags."

"I would have thought Morrow would have taught his children better manners!" I yelled at him as I threw energy balls at him that barely phased him as the others began their assaults.

He ignored my statement and caught a birdarang that Robin just threw at his face, as it exploded in his hand he spoke, "Tornado's memories and my superior processing system allow me to anticipate your every move."

Zatanna spoke some incantation that caused him to become blind by something forming over his eyes. "Tornado never knew my moves," she said with a smirk.

Robin appeared behind her, "And I bet you've got some good ones," he said then backtracked when Zatanna turned to look at him, "Sorry that came off a little to Wally."

"Oh, I don't min—"

"Adorable," I cut her off, "Happy you guys are getting along, but can you flirt later, when we aren't in the middle of fighting a psychic robot, thanks."

Before either of them could say anything the red robot became unblinded with two lasers shooting out of his eyes. Right behind him lava exploded from behind him.

"_Kid Flash, what is that?" _ I exclaimed as I dodged a projectile that flew in our direction.

"_He's activating a stage two eruption," _he said as he dodged some molten rocks that the android just threw at him, "_it gets to stage three you can kiss the hemisphere good-bye."_

_ "Hit him from all sides,"_ Aqualad ordered.

He and Superboy attacked him seconds later only to be hit with rocks and thrown back down to the ground. I threw more energy balls at him, "_Nothings working!" _I exclaimed it as I dodged yet another rock.

Just then the robot bent back slightly causing another stream of lava to erupt from the ground followed by a scream.

"M'gann!" Superboy exclaimed.

I formed an energy disc and floated over to her quickly and put her on the platform with me. "_I've got her!"_

Then the android jumped between us and Superboy. The robot backhanded Superboy away several yards and knocked me aside as he grabbed a weakened Miss Martian by her cape. I jumped up and threw an energy disc at him only for him to grab me by my throat roughly.

"_Carter!"_ Aqualad exclaimed in my head as I tried to kick my opponent as I clammed at his grasp.

"_Stay away! It's to….hot!" _i said telepathically as my vision began to cloud, "_Can't….brea…"_

Just then Kid Flash appeared grabbing Miss Martian and me but the android's grasp on my throat was too strong. I saw his face turn from determination to one of horror as he vanished again. My lungs were on fire, begging for air. My brain tried to divert all available oxygen supply to itself. My eyes closed just as I felt a rush of water shoot at us and sting my skin as it hit. I was floated into the air and I landed on the ground as I finally blacked out. I woke up on a bed in the bio-ship with an oxygen mask covering my nose and mouth, my domino mask gone, and an ice pack on my neck. I blinked for a couple of moments before trying to turn my neck. I winced in pain and I heard a beeping sound, I just took notice of, accelerate. I turned to look at it causing another wince and another spike.

"Hey, hey take it easy," Wally said from my side still in uniform. I turned to see the others had gathers around me. I turned to see Kaldur who gave me a small smile. I went to move the masked away from my face but was stopped by a green hand. M'gann gave me a disapproving look.

"What—"

"_No, speak telepathically your throat is still really sore," _M'gann's voice echoed through my head.

I rolled my eyes at her babying but agreed_, "What happened? How long have I been out?"_

_ "You have been out for a little over an hour," _Robin said from the foot of the bed.

"_You had us worried," _Artemis chimed in, "_Your heart rate dropped so low even Superboy had trouble hearing it."_

_ "Artemis and I had to carry you back to put you on oxygen," _Zatanna said from her spot, "_Your throat was so swollen you were barely getting any, we had to put the ice pack on it."_

I set my gaze to look at Kaldur I reached my hand out and he quickly grasped it and gave it a tight squeeze. "_I am sorry to have worried you."_

**He leaned forward and pressed his lips to my forehead "_Shhh, It was not your fault,"_ he replied sternly. **

"_He's right, you were trying to save me," _M'gann said_, "I shouldn't have been so close to the lava—"_

_ "Can we please not play this game?" _I replied with a smirk_, "The blame game is getting old, can we just agree that we are still learning and sometimes we make really, really stupid decisions? Now what happened while is was unconscious?"_

That's when they began the story mostly narrated by Kid Flash, at least at the beginning. He cause me to laugh from one of the sound effects he made, causing me to go into a coughing fit. He was immediately demoted from storyteller and Kaldur finished up. I finally took notice of another bed with Red Tornado.

"_So on a scale of one to ten how dead are we when we get back to the cave?"_

_ "Do you have a bigger scale?" _Wally asked sarcastically.

I closed my eyes and let out a huge sigh, "_How many missed calls?"_

_ "Altogether? About sixty to the bio-ship and about ten on everyone's phones. Your's however has been still ringing," _Robin said.

I grimaced and moved to pull my cell phone out of its pocket, I pressed a button on the side, 32 MISSED CALLS 24 UNREAD TEXT MESSAGES. I began to scroll through the text messages, "_Yeah, I'm screwed. They went parental and even roped in Roy to call. If this is any indication, we are all _royally_ screwed."_

_**"You do not need to worry about that now," **_**Kaldur said as he ran his fingers through my hair. "_You need to rest."_**

**_I rolled my eyes, "Kaldur, I am fine really."_**

**_"You can't talk without being in pain," Kaldur pointed out, "That is not normal."_**

**_"Give me an hour and what about me is normal?" I asked with a small smile._**

**_He smiled back, "True." He sat down in the chair that M'gann formed beside my bed. _**

**We were quiet after that. M'gann stopped the team mind link after a while and the others chatted amongst themselves while we were in our own little bubble. He would just go and do the smallest things. Brush my hair out of my face, play with one or both of my hands by running his fingers along my skin. He'd kiss me when the others weren't looking in our general direction. He was just sweat all the way back to Mount Justice.**

**As soon as we arrived Dinah and Oliver literally flipped their shit. As soon as they saw the bruises and heard the wheezing noises I was making they started in and could even be stopped by Batman, not that he tried that hard. I think he was rather impressed how scary Dinah got when she went into 'Mom' mode. After about ten minutes of steady ranting from the both of them. They finally stopped and pulled me into a hug.**

**"Why do you have to keep worrying me like that? Do you actually like being grounded?" Dinah asked.**

**I gave her a look 'What do you think?'**

**"Well then why do you keep being so stupid?" Oliver asked.**

**I shrugged and croaked out "You call it stupid, we call it taking care of business."**

**Dinah narrowed her eyes, "You are so grounded."**

**I nodded, "Figured."**

Batman began his verbal assault after that and ordered our leave. She started right back up as soon as we got home.

"What the hell were you guys thinking, Carter? You almost died! Do you know how stupid that was to go into that by yourselves?" she said as she grabbed a glass of water and a bottle of pain killers. "You are so lucky Red Tornado was there and not a traitor or we all could have lost you guys." I took her assault silently, one because it still hurt to whisper let alone yell back at her. So I took every verbal jab as I downed the water and a couple of pills. "Oh and by the way this finally came for you today," she said as she tossed a huge envelope onto the counter after she explicitly said how grounded i was. It slid towards me and I stopped it with my hand. I looked at the both of them with wide eyes, I put down the glass and picked it up with both hands and stared at it.

After a couple of seconds, Oliver appeared next to me with a hand on my shoulder. "Well aren't you going to open it?"

I cleared my throat and noticed the pain had subsided more, "I'm scared to," I said quietly, "It could change things."

Dinah appeared on my other side, "Everything changes at some point, the sooner one accepts it is the sooner one can take charge of their own life and make the changes they want to happen."

I responded with a sigh and a nod and began to open the manila folder. I tore it open and spilled the contents onto the table and picked up a letter addressed to me and began to read.

_**And cue the cliffie! Hey you guys so I guess you guess were probably wondering what the heck happened with that whole deal and I figured with the Injustice League plant ordeal one of those things most likely took out a mail center or a mail truck causing it to be sent much later. So you will find out rather or not she got accepted in or not in the next chapter but i'm pretty sure you all know the outcome. Well anyways so you guys next week, hope you enjoyed it and let me know in that cute little box underneath my rambles. **_


	17. Author's Present

**_Hey you guys TLG19 here and someone brought up a cute little idea in the review and though you know what let's do it. TurtleLynn asked for like a little scene between Kaldur and Carter where Kaldur shows how truly scared he was since you know ...i almost killed off Carter or got to give you guys some type of heart attack right? So I added some things in bold into the last chapter (Chapter 16) and am adding this now because well...i can do that! hope you enjoy._**

It was a weekday so everyone was at school, or work, or whatever leaving Kaldur and I alone for some much needed quality time. I arrived at the cave around eight and together we made breakfast. Then we sat and watched tv comfortably with my head in his lap and his hand running through my hair. I felt his stare for a while I'd look up and flash him a small smile and he'd reciprocate. This little 'game' went on for a while before finally I turned off the TV and got up from my spot. I turned and looked at him.

"What's on your mind?" I asked as I grabbed his hand and intertwined our fingers.

"I have many thoughts on my mind," he said cryptically.

"Yeah, but something is bothering you."

He sighed and nodded. He gestured for me to move closer and I did until he pulled me into his embrace. We stayed in that position for several minutes before i shifted my body to where I was sitting in his lap. "Kal, what's bothering you?"

He was silent for a moment before answering and took to playing with my hair again. "I have so many thoughts and questions that are plaguing my mind."

"About what?" I asked as played with his hand in my lap.

"You, yesterday, what almost happened yesterday," he said. I felt his lips press against my hair and his grip on my tightened slightly. "I thought you were gone, for a five whole minutes I thought you were gone. Out of my life just as quickly as you appeared. The emotions I felt in that small time frame, I hope I never have to feel them again. I keep thinking about it over and over. How you stopped struggling to get out of Red Volcano's grasp because you were becoming so weak from the lack of oxygen. How when Red Torpedo moved you away from his brother a closer to us and Superboy told us he couldn't hear your heartbeat. I-" I pulled away slightly and saw he had his eyes closed and a look of pain on his face. I moved my hand to cradle his face his eyes opened. "The thought of you...your life ending...is something I never want to physically experience. I fear the consequences would be irreversible."

I leaned my head forward and rested my forehead on his. "I am here, Kaldur, and I always will be if i can help it. Stop thinking about the possibilities, it only hurts to think about them. The risk is higher with our profession, we knew that coming in. Just because the risk is higher doesn't mean it's definitely going to happen, only possible. If we kept thinking about them, we couldn't function normally. So just clear your mind and think of us. We are alone, together. It's quiet and peaceful. Don't think about the 'what if's think about the present, the future. We can't go back only forward." I gave him a kiss, "What would you rather think about? What happened yesterday or about the present possibilities?"

He gave me a curious look, "What did you have in mind?"

"Something that involves these doing something other than talking," I said with a devilish smile.

He smiled back, "I approve of that possibility."

"Figured you would," I said as I wrapped my arms his neck and pulled his lips towards mine.

...He thoroughly agreed to that possibility


	18. Chapter 17

_Did that just happen?_ I asked myself in horror as I saw what happened in space of the screen before me. An alien invasion was coming, a big one. The Justice League sent its heavy hitters into space. The Green Lanterns approach and asked informed them of some treat and that they were to turn around a leave. A red light beam shoot out from the ship and they were gone. Others like Captain Marvel were hit and finally Batman in a ship was just hit. I raised my hand to my mouth to cover my gasp and I grabbed Kaldur's hand and squeezed it.

The screen vanished and another appeared with the notice of an incoming transmission. Zatara's face appeared on the screen and addressed our supervisor, "Red Tornado, did you—"

"Yes, Zatara, we saw. Celestial defenses have failed," Red Tornado replied, "Initiate all terrestrial measures."

"Affirmative, see you in a few," Zatara said as the screen vanished.

Red Tornado turned to us, "I must join the League. We will protect the planet at all costs. But should we fail, the responsibility falls down to you."

Kaldur and I gave each other a look and with a nod and another squeeze of his hand I let it go as he stepped forward. "We stand ready," he declared.

He left shortly after and I went to my room and gathered all the weapons I had. I stocked up and came out of my room and saw the rest of the group watching the live feed from GBS News.

"We are experiencing technical difficulties from our Central City feed," Cat Grant said, "We will take you now to a devastated Taipei where another League contingent is having a bit more luck."

She unfortunately spoke to son as the feed brought us to the image of Hawkman getting caught by a laser. The feed then went to another scene on top of a building with Black Canary and Green Arrow.

He shot two arrows and she let out a scream that took down five ships. I smiled in pride only to have it fall from my face as the smoke cleared and another ship appeared and directed a beam at them. "No!" I exclaimed, "No, no NO!" I cried out as the feed vanished and we were brought back to the grieving face of Kat Grant. "No go back, what happened?" I asked as I rushed forward to have a holo keyboard appear in front of me as I began to search for other feeds on a more local scale of Taipei. "No, please they can't ….go," I ended quietly as I noticed the tears stream down my face. Rage filled me I switched through the feeds only seeing blank or static filled screens. "NO!" I yelled as I punched at the keyboard only for in to vanish.

"Ladies and gentleman, we have lost Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Hawks," Kat Grant declared. I let out a sob as I covered my face with my hands. Kaldur came up from behind me and turned me into his chest. "Other heroes who have been reported missing or dead include Batman, Icon, Adam, and Aquaman."

I looked up from his chest to see his features freeze, I gave him a hug before I stepped out of his hold and wiped my free of tears before I placed my mask over my eyes.

"Red Tornado to cave," his mechanical voice said over the coms, "I fear I am all that remains of the League."

"RT—" Robin started but the feed turned to static. The feeds of other stations were still on the screen.

"We are it," I declared.

"We are Earth's heroes now," Aqualad declared.

"So what are we waiting for a theme song?" Superboy said in anger.

"A strategy," Aqualad said approaching him. "Earth's weapons are ineffective it has been made tragically clear that a direct attack will not succeed."

"Checking satellite imagery," Robin said as he pressed a couple buttons on his holo computer. An image of the entire globe pulled up and showed a red haze of dots where the aliens were more populated.

"This one get lost?" Superboy pointed out as one lone ship was flying around near the North Pole.

"It's Superman's fortress of solitude," Robin said.

"Superman had a fortress of solitude?" Superboy asked.

"Yeah, it's run off of a next generation technology to keep it severely off the grid. The only way to sense it is with a highly specific frequency detector," I said causing several looks, "What? Remember when I said I only hacked the Justice League systems once or twice? This came up wasn't what I was aiming for but the schematics on the structure were just too good to pass up. Got handed my ass a lot that weekend for hacking again."

"Its power source must have attracted the aliens' attention at least enough to send a scout to investigate," Robin reasoned.

"Must be some fortress," Superboy said turning away from the group.

"Connor," Miss Martian said grabbing him by his arm.

He turned to look at her, "No it's okay. I guess there's a lot about Superman I will never know. Eh, you know now."

"We will target this lone ship," Aqualad declared.

"Yeah break it down and build more," Kid agreed furiously, "hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo."

Artemis hit him in the arm with her elbow, "Ahem, Martian and Kryptonian in the house."

He looked at them sheepishly, "Not that all aliens are automatically ugly."

We began to get ready for the trip to the North Pole after that. We packed the necessary provisions onto the bio-ship in dense silence. Once we were situated we were on our way.

"Connor," I said interrupting the quietness the enveloped the room, "If it makes you feel better I can tell you some things about him." He turned in his chair and gave me skeptical look, "Besides BC and Arrow, he and some of the other Leaguers were there when they found me. He became an uncle to me in a way after a couple of years."

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked angrily.

"Because you need to know," I snapped back at him, "I went to go talk to him a couple of weeks ago, he wanted to approach you but in his mind he felt he'd hinder you. He's an idiot for thinking it and I told him so but he was still set in his ways. No one has ever been there besides him, not even Batman or Wonder Woman but I feel like once he came to his senses he would let you in. Just know that is some really odd way he rejected you because he cared." He looked at me for a second before turning away and staring out of the window. The rest of the ride was quiet.

We had a plan and it was supposed to work flawlessly. Deactivate communications, seal the aliens inside and take the ships weapon and place in on the bio-ship. It started out seamlessly, Artemis and I hid in our places within a couple of feet of each other with weapons ready.

I looked over the large snow drift we hid behind to see Miss Martian telepathically rip off the one of the legs of the ship, "_Communications disabled."_ The ship feel to the ground. "_Propulsions disabled." _

Artemis shot an arrow at the entrance and caused high- density polyurethane foam to form on the front. They began shooting at the snow drift, I formed a shield in front of the laser encasing it to where it only shoot the shield and only intensified the strength.

"_ET's are sealed inside," _Artemis said as she aimed herself with another arrow guarding me since now I was too busy concentrating.

"_Better hurry there is not a whole lot of natural energy here," _I informed them, "_I can only hold it for so long."_

Aqualad appeared from behind the ship launching himself through the frozen ice covered water. His movement caused the ship to collapse into the water. The laser moved to shoot him but was still unable to. Wolf bit the arm and swiveled it away, Superboy and Robin Appeared as well. Robin analyzed the structure as Superboy held it in place.

They were almost finished detaching the arm when something happened causing a sudden light to appear and I noticed Wolf was nowhere to be seen. They didn't dwell on it too much or at least they didn't telepathically. They finally detached the laser from the ship and began to ingrain it into the structure of the bio-ship. I let me shield disperse and I collapsed into the snow drift with a huff.

"BR, you okay?" Artemis asked as she looked at me from the corner of her eye.

I nodded as I stood up straight, "I'm fine."

"_Rerouting systems to integrate weapon into Bio-ship's matrix," _Miss Martian said_, "I may need to de-camouflage for a few minutes."_

"_We may not have a few minutes,"_ Robin said I looked up to see two more ships fly overhead.

"_Miss Martian! Open Fire!" _Aqualad ordered as the ships turned around.

"_Can't, weapon systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon, and that's not fully intergrated yet either."_

_ "Get inside," _I ordered, "_We will cover you!" _

An adrenaline rush kicked in as I leaped over the snow drift and formed a huge disc and flung it slicing the ship in half. I sent more and caused it to explode on the ground. Artemis appeared by my side and shot the other one with three explosive arrows causing it to crash on the ground. We both began to run towards the bio-ship.

"_Carter! Artemis! Behind you!"_ Miss Martian yelled through our heads.

I whirled around and saw the ship she had shot. Its laser was still intact and was aiming right for us. I put up a shield and once the laser hit it stayed intact for a couple moments. Then something happened, an explosion. We both flew away and landed twenty feet apart from each other. The laser aimed for her.

"NO!" I screamed as the laser hit her and she was gone. Another friend, another person I cared about that was taken away from me. I jumped up from my spot. And formed a huge shield in front of me as the laser turned its sight on me. I held it off this time and I approached it once I got close I formed the shield around the ship encasing it in a giant ball of energy. I held my hands out beside me and slammed them together causing the ball to collapse on itself and packing the ship into a small ball. I collapsed to the ground as Aqualad reached me. He wordlessly picked me up and carried me onto the ship.

Once we were on the ship he deposited me onto a chair. He leaned down in front of me to say something but he was pushed out of the way by a furious Kid Flash. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" he screamed at me Superboy came from behind him and wrapped his arms around the angry speeder's body and yanked him away. "It's your fault she's gone!"

"No it's not Kid," Robin yelled at him, "It's their fault."

I began shaking my head as I let out a sob, "No, he's right it's my fault. It's my fault she's gone I should…. have pushed her out of the way. …..I should have protected her." I said as I stood up I walked over to the windows and stared at the spot where she last stood. I punched the glass and surprisingly cracked it. "WHY DO I KEEP FAILING AT PROTECTING THE PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT?" I screamed as I continued to punch at the window. "Why do I keep losing everyone?" I whispered as I laid my head against the cold glass. Silence filled the room and I could feel their eyes burying into my back. With a deep breath I turned around and faced them, "They are dead," I declared, "Every last one, they will pay for how many lives they have taken today with their own. I will get my _justice_ this time."

Aqualad approached me and wiped the tears off my face, "We will mourn for our losses later, we must do our duty to make sure their sacrifices were not in vain."

I nodded, "Where to first?"

"The Hall of Justice," he said as he turned to everyone, "The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

I turned to Kid Flash and saw that he had been released from Superboy's grasp. I walked up to him and hugged him, "They. Will. Pay." I said in his ear.

He pulled away and gave me a stern nod, "Damn right."

The sun was almost gone by the time we got to Washington D.C. and despite the beautiful display it gave on the clouds, it still dulled in comparison to the devastation that it tried to shadow. Three ships were flying in a v formation towards a military blockade. We fell behind them and a hole in the floor opened up and Superboy jumped out and landed on the back right one. We shot at the other two vaporizing them with our now integrated laser cannon. Superboy literally punched the ship into the ground and landed just a hundred feet shy of the blockade.

We arrived right next to it and walked out just as Superboy corrected one of the soilders who thought that he was Superman.

"I don't care who you are son," a high ranked offered stated, "And right now I don't care. You wear the 'S' and you got the job."

"I'm not Superman," Superboy stated again as he looked at the ground.

"Tell that to the enemy, General Wade Eiling, US Air Force."

"Aqualad, Justice League," he said stepping forward, "We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens cannons as possible. Then we start taking back what is ours."

We walked through the blockage and passed by soldiers, even earning a few cheers. We gave them nods in response. The Hall of Justice was in shambles. The huge statues of the original members were now crumbled to the ground in huge heaps of rubble. The lights and every glass window had shatters covering the ground with shards.

"They're really gone," Robin muttered.

I nodded, "But they will _never_ be forgotten," I said as I watched Miss Martian float over to the fallen statue of her Uncle. She fell over and placed a hand on the stone before letting out a heart wrenching sob that echoed through the empty hall. I began to walk closer to her, but suddenly she flew away and floated in the air for a second before moving the giant statue and levitating it in the air to reveal the real Martian Manhunter.

"Uncle J'onn!" she cried as she tossed the statue away.

She began to approach him but Aqualad and I stopped her. I faced Martian Manhunter with guns in hand as Aqualad addressed Miss Martian.

"_M'gann check his mind, make sure he is who he appears to be_," Aqualad said telepathically.

"I_t's him, he's real and he's alive!" _She exclaimed as she flew to embrace and support her uncle.

"But we saw you get disintegrated. You and Superman! And everyone!" Superboy exclaimed as he approached the two Martians.

"Yes," he said as he held his head in his hand. "I remember, but I cannot remember how I survived. Or how I arrived here."

"Maybe you were density-shifting and the beam passed right through you," Miss Martian offered.

I was skeptical, I was sure of what I saw and he was caught in the beam. Density shifting is a powerful thing but still even some of his atoms would have disintegrated. I picked up on gun and held on covertly in my hand hidden from sight.

"Scrambling your brain along the way," Robin said in agreement. Still skeptical, and apparently the only one.

"My mind is clouded," Manhunter admitted, "I am certain I had something important to tell you."

"_Hello Wally!"_ Kid Flash said mentally and gave himself a face palm. "_C'mon!"_ he said as he grabbed Robin and dragged him outside. "_I knew it_!" his voice rang through just a minute later. "_the things giving off Zeta-beam! This thing doesn't disintegrate! It teleports!" _Still skeptical. "_Artemis is alive_!"

"_Maybe," _Robin said about to state his doubts as well, "_but—_"

"_No maybes! They're all alive." _

_ "That must have been what you wanted to tell us!" _Miss Martian said smiling at her uncle.

The look on his face said otherwise because he had not time to comment. Because outside the noises of more alien ships alerted us for another attack.

"_We are on our way!"_ Aqualad said to Kid and Robin who were both still outside.

"_Negative,_" Robin replied, "_We can't win this. Miss Martian, camouflage the Bio-ship."_

I was at the entrance and saw one of the ships shoot at the Bio- ship and vaporize it. I turned to see both Martians fly back and land in pain.

Superboy rushed to her side, "M'gann!"

I could see tears streaming down her face from where I stood, "That didn't feel of good,"

"_We're falling back!" _Robin said rushing towards the building with Kid Flash and some soldiers.

"_I'll cover you,"_ I said as I stepped out of the building. There were ten possibly more than that flying around. I took in a deep breath and formed a huge shield and had it hang over and cover the entrance. "Stop your staring and run soldiers!" I exclaimed as I saw some of them stop and look at the shield. Once they were inside I backed up until we were all against the back wall and still holding up the shield and was starting to break a sweat.

"We're trapped," General Eiling said.

Aqualad pushed open the same doors we had walked through several months before that lead to the library. "Maybe not." He said as he walked through the room and stood in front of the zeta tube. He turned to Martian Manhunter, "We can all zeta to the cave if you grant us computer access to the tubes."

"I can only authorize one at a time."

"Send the soldiers first," Aqualad demanded.

"Belay that!" the General said, "You seven are assets we can't afford to lose."

"Well can someone start because they are starting to shoot through the entrance," I yelled, "And I can't hold this damn thing forever."

"Override: Martian Manhunter 07," the older Martian stated as the computer gave him a body scan.

**_Recognized_**_**: Access Granted**_

We lined up and started lining up. The computer began listing us off as we went in.

_**Miss Martian B06, Robin B01, Kid Flash B03**_

Then the entrance to the library exploded. Kid flash stalled and was about to go help then Aqualad grabbed him and threw him into the tube. I got up from my spot and saw my shield had dissipated. Superboy ran to get an injured solider and carried him over.

"He goes next," he ordered.

"Then you right after," I ordered back as I saw the laser hit and vaporize the General and several other soldiers. Aqualad carried over a more disoriented Martian Manhunter.

"Go they need the both of you more than me," Aqualad ordered and then he threw Manhunter into the zeta tube.

He went to grab me but I pulled him in for a kiss. "You are wrong they need you more than they need me. I am nothing if I lose you too." I formed a shield on his chest and shoved him into the zeta tube. I turned around with my shield and saw a laser shooting straight for me. I held it for as long as I could as I pulled out my gun from my pocket and shot several rounds at the computer deactivating the zeta tube. Then I let the laser have me.

I opened my eyes and I was floating in a black abyss. I began to look around and suddenly I fell to the ground. I look up to see a screen had formed several and next to me appeared a chair, similar to the ones in a movie theater. I stared at the chair in confusion from my spot on the ground. I stood to get up and once I did several screens had popped up and began to display videos of my friends. There was a huge screen that was surrounded by several smaller ones. The huge screen showed everyone while the smaller ones showed their point of views.

They were all in the cave and Aqualad was banging on the zeta tube doors. He continued banging it and was cursing in Atlantian. He stopped and laid his head against the metal. I looked to his screen and felt a whoosh as I could suddenly feel the cold metal on my forehead I placed my hand there and noticed mind wasn't cold at all. Aqualad muttered something in Atlantian and somehow I knew what it meant. "Your sacrifice shall not be in vain, my love."

I fell back into the chair and turned my attention back to the bigger screen in shock as I saw him turn around and face the team. "Our mission is clear now," he said in a distant voice.

He turned to Robin and he responded with a nod before speaking, "If we believe the aliens have been teleporting their victims. The only reasonable detention facility is here." He taped on the screen of his holo computer and a big alien structure appeared on the screen. "Their mother ship on top of what used to be Smallville." The entire team turned to the older Martian. "Does this ring any bells?"

"No I am sorry."

"It is fine," Aqualad said in a stronger tone. He turned to Robin, "You lead the team inside the ship and destroy it. I will provide a distraction leading away the other ships."

There was a pause, "Are you sure, Aqualad?" Robin asked nervously.

Aqualad stepped forward and placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulders. "It is your time," he declared, "I am…incapable of making the proper decisions. I step down and stand with you. Do what you feel is necessary to complete the mission."

Robin gave him a nod, "Don't do anything stupid, she wouldn't want you to die because of her."

"We will never know what she would have wanted," Aqualad said sadly as he stepped away from Robin.

I choked on a sob and put my hands to my face and noticed I was crying. I looked up at the screen again and saw Superboy step forward. "I'm in too," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"What? Connor! No, w-what are you doing?" Miss Martian said as she flew to stand in front of him. "You can't sacrifice yourself!" she exclaimed as the terms streamed down her cheeks.

"If we both go, we will be better targeted as a threat. Leaving you guys with less aliens to deal with," Superboy said, "_Besides I can't let him do something stupid, Carter wouldn't have wanted him to end that way."_

Miss Martian let out a huge sigh and nodded.

"Relax, M'gann," Kid Flash said interrupting the scene, "Worst case scenario, he'll be teleported inside and we'll free him along with Artemis and Carter and everyone."

Superboy turned back to Miss Martian, "_Its okay, M'gann. It's what Superman would do._"

They began to make preparations, and then they made a live feed through all the satellites to sync with every mobile device and viable TV hooked up to cable.

"To the people of earth, the Justice League may be gone but hope is _not lost_," Aqualad started, "I am Aqualad and this is Miss Martian, Superboy, Kid Flash, and Robin and we are here to fight for you and to get back what has been taken from us.

"Though we know everything seems lost, the aliens realized there is one thing they can not destroy and that is hope," Miss Martian said as she and Superboy came into the camera view.

"Hope survives because the battle is _not over,_" Superboy said taking over, "Not as long as one of us is willing to fight."

The screen moved to view Kid Flash and Robin, "It doesn't matter how many fall, for new heroes will always rise to carry on," Kid Flash stated, "Bringing all their resources, their skill, their talent to bare, to defeat the enemy."

"The people of earth _will_ survive this," Robin said strongly as he stepped forward, "And we will rebuild and we will thrive. Never doubt and never forget, the Earth will never surrender!"

"That's my team," I said in a silent cheer from my spot. "Now go give them hell!"

They zeta beamed close to close to Smallville and traveled the rest of the way by an abandoned pickup truck. Robin scouted the huge alien structure on a rock with a pair of binoculars while the rest to the team waited below on the ground and waited for his call. Miss Martian flew up and landed at his side, "Stay close to J'onn," he told her, "He's still…." He trawled of and then made a hand motion. Miss Martian nodded.

"Alright first team deploy," Robin ordered. Miss Martian and Manhunter both camouflaged and density shifted into the structure completely unnoticed.

"_Ready and in position_," Miss Martian said she said through a group link. I glanced at her screen and saw what she saw and I also noticed her speak to Superboy on a private link, "_Be careful, Connor …I love you_."

I frowned at the screen and turned to his screen and I felt him smiling and a sense of euphoria fill him. That caused me to smile as I turned to the main screen. To see him and Aqualad step forward and stop beside Robin.

They both looked to him and he gave them a nod. Superboy launched Aqualad onto the ship and jumped on to it himself. He grabbed one of the cannons and ripped it from the ship leaving just the wires connected to the ship. "_Careful, don't disconnect the power source_," Robin reminded.

"Alright you glorified trespassers! You want to see how a real alien fights?" Superboy yelled as he used the beams of the cannon to destroy others like it on the top deck. Aqualad had been working on the ones below and taking down a lot of them in a fit of rage. The two both paused as doors below them opened up and smaller ships began to file out. "_Now or never," _Superboy yelled in his head to Robin who was situating himself on Kid's back. Kid ran with Robin on his back at his highest speed and launched them off a cliff and they both tumbled into one of the ship docks. They both got up quickly and hid getting out of the way of another stream of ships exiting.

I turned my attention to the other screens, Superboy and Aqualad were getting tired I could feel the exhaustion taking over both of their bodies. Aqualad had taking Superboy's route and used one of their cannons to shoot at the flying ships however his was still partially attached giving him the ability to at least swivel it around. I turned to Superboy's screen and saw they were shooting directly at him. One of the cannons on the ship destroyed his causing him to fly back landing in a flip. Before he could recover further a laser shot right at him. Superboy was gone now too confirmed by hit screen vanishing causing the other screens to even out.

Aqualad looked up and saw no sign of Superboy he launched himself at a flying ship and set out to release his anger on the ship. He began slashing at the ship with his water bearers until it began to fall out of the sky. He jumped back to the bigger alien structure and was just able to barely catch it with hands he hung there for a few moments and tried to lift his body onto the structure. He was shot at by a ship as it flew over him it caused him to fall and fell right into another laser. His screen vanished seconds later.

A lone tear fell from my face and soon others began to follow. I turned to the main screen where Miss Martian had just collapsed to the floor causing the boys to run towards her. The two group must have met up while I had watched the other screens.

"_No," _Miss Martian breathed out, "_he's gone, they are gone."_

_ "It's alright,"_ Kid Flash said comforting her, "_We'll find them with Artemis! I know it!"_

_ "No," _Martian Manhunter said gravely, "_My mind is clearer now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose."_

Kid Flash grabbed him, "_No! You're wrong! The zeta radiation proves that she's alive! Artemis is ali—"_

"_Stop it KF!" _Robin ordered as he yanked the older boy away from Martian Manhunter. "_I've been scanning for the League and the Team signals since we got inside. They're not here. Artemis is gone." _Kid's face fell but Robin continued. "_Our mission still holds purpose, to destroy this mother ship_."

Martian Manhunter helped his niece to her feet as they all slowly began to walk down the hall. Kid Flash trailing behind seething. They ended up in a giant room with a huge giant sphere shaped structure directly in the center. Robin did a scan and relayed the result back to the other three. "_This is the power core. Blow this and the whole mother ship blows."_

The four of them jumped from their hiding place and moved fast. Once Robin go on a platform he began to lose his balance and fell being pulled towards the large structure. Kid Flash grabbed him and tried to pull him but he got pulled to. They were dragged by an invisible force over the edge. Robin quickly pulled out his grappling hook and saved them from falling. The pair of Martian had floated overhead and Miss Martian levitated the boys down to the power core. Once they landed Robin pulled off the straps of bombs he had crisscrossed over his shoulders and placed them on the bright yellow surface they stood on.

"_You knew," _Kid Flash snapped, "_you knew from the beginning why we were really here."_

Robin ignored him, "_Four minutes, let's go_."

They left the bombs blinking on the power core and ran to the exit while the two Martians flew behind. The exit doors snapped shut. "_Perfect_," Kid said sarcastically as three aliens came into view trapping them. They all began to shoot lasers at them and narrowly missed the group. They all jumped out of the way and separated.

"_Sixteen seconds and counting," _Robin said looking at the countdown on his wrist. "_Manhunter, take Miss Martian and go!"_

_ "No!" _she argued, "_We won't leave you!"_

_ "That's an order!" _Robin commanded, "_We'll follow as soon as we blow those doors_."

"That's a lie, you don't have enough time," I yelled at the screen.

Miss Martian however had accepted is and the two Martians both density shifted their way out. Kid Flash and Robin shared a look at nine seconds, at eight seconds they were out of their hiding place. At seven seconds robin through three birdarangs at one of the aliens. At six seconds, Kid Flash was on the middle ones back aiming its laser at its friend. At five seconds they took down the second alien. At four seconds they attacked the last one together. At two seconds they had taken the last alien out. At one second they were gone, along with the mother ship. Their screens left two seconds later.

There were only three screens left. I looked at the main one two see the Martians watching the display.

"_Don't,"_ Miss Martian said sadly, "_Don't tell me the mission was a success. The price was _too high."

Just then a shadow enveloped them I looked to her screen and watched in horror as another mothership hovered over where the other one was before.

"_No, no, no, no, no,"_ Miss Martian said as she stared at the scene in horror. She turned to her uncle, "_We have to get out of here now!"_

_ "No, we have to end this now," _he said calmly. He grabbed Miss Martian by her are and punched her in the chest forming a spiked blade.

Pain rushed through me as I looked down to see blood forming at a spot in my chest. I collapsed out of the chair and blacked out.

I sprang up from a bed sprinted to a trash can. I gasped for air as Black Canary appeared behind me holding back my hair as I emptied my stomach.

"You're all alive!" M'gann exclaimed from her spot on the bed.

"What happened in there?" Batman ordered.

"The exercise, it all went wrong," Martian Manhunter replied.

"Exercise?" Robin asked. I turned to look but the sudden movement caused me to dry heave into the trash can.

"Try to remember," Batman said, "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you didn't know was what it was a trained-for-failure exercise. No matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf was disintegrated right before your eyes," Manhunter explained. "But all that changed when Artemis died. Though concisely, Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind would not make the distinction. She forgot it was only and exercise. And her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too."

"I-I'm so sorry," M'gann sniveled. I turned and moved to get up but needed the help of Black Canary.

"This isn't her fault!" Connor snapped, "Why didn't you stop the exercise?"

"We tried," Manhunter defended, "But M'gann had a death grip on the scenario. Even Artemis, who should have awakened upon her death was so convinced she pasted that she slipped into a coma. I realized I would have to wrestle control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion there was too much noise to think clearly to remember why I was there. Carter's death had helped slightly." I snorted, certainly didn't help me. "Aqualad and Superboy's deaths also helped but only when the mother ship exploded and Robin and Kid Flash were silenced did my mind clear enough for me to remember my true purpose. To shock M'gann out of the exercise before your comas became permanent. My apologies, I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous so damaging."

"Damn right!" I snapped, "That wasn't an exercise, that was hell! I had to watch helplessly again!" I cried out as I collapsed to the ground again dry heavy at the ground. "I felt everything!"

"Carter, what do you mean?" Black Canary asked.

"When I died I appeared in this room it had a feed of the simulation continuing with another several to give personal insight. Once I looked at any of the other screens I heard what they were thinking and felt everything what they were feeling," I said with a shiver and another dry heave. "I could do nothing and just watched. Do you have any idea what it's like to watch the people you love die and not be able to do anything," I stopped and sobbed into the ground. I looked to Batman and Martian Manhunter. "Try watching it twice and feeling their pain coupled with yours."

I broke down and began to sob into the ground. Black Canary began to comfort me in Japanese, I barely heard them Green Arrow came minutes later and picked me up and placed me on a bed and sat next to me. I curled into his chest as he played with my hair. "Shh, it's okay little bird it's okay."

I shook my head, "It's not I watched you…. you died, Ollie. You and Mom died I was alone again. And I still couldn't help."

"It was just a simula—"

"Yeah, now," I snapped, "What if that actually happens, huh? Some fucking unstoppable asshole from space comes and decides, 'Yeah I like this planet. Kill its protectors'. What the fuck am I supposed to do?"

"Carter, language," Dinah used in her mom voice.

"I think after what I was through tonight, I have a little bit of wiggle room to drop an F bomb or two, don't ya think, Mom?" I snapped back as I began to rub my stomach.

"What's the matter with your stomach?"

"Sore from the puking," I said I placed my hand underneath my stomach. I felt an odd sensation and lifted my shirt away from my neck and looked down. I gasped, "Oh my god."

"What's the matter?" Batman said rushing over. I guess he had learned over the years that I only said that when it was really bad.

"Um, Martian Manhunter stabbed me," I said slowly in confusion and everybody's faces changed to the emotion as well. I jumped down from the bench and lifted up shirt to just below my bra to reveal a large dark purple bruise that spread across my abdomen with a large healing stab wound in the upper center.

"Well that needs some explaining," Wally said after a moment of shock.

"Yeah, trust me I'd appreciate one too," I said looking at the equally as confused League members.


End file.
